Infinitely Losing My Edge
Yeah, I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids from Algeria and from Toronto.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I'm losing my edge to the internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1964 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra kids in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered nineties.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976 at the first Wire practice in a loft in Watford.
I was working on the mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed started up his first band.
I told him, "Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime."
I was there.
I was the first guy playing Barbara Tucker to the techno kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I've never been wrong.
But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they're actually really, really nice.
I'm losing my edge.
I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody.
Every great song by Warren Ellis. All the underground hits.
All Lizzy Mercier Descloux tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Camberwell Now record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Soul II Soul record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Groovy Waters,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Symarip,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Byron Stingily,
Blossom Toes,
Mandrill,
The Moleskins,
Rhythm & Sound,
Masters at Work,
Zapp,
Harry Pussy,
Throbbing Gristle,
Camouflage,
Lebanon Hanover,
Cameo,
Yellowson,
Arcadia,
Sixth Finger,
Scratch Acid,
Al Stewart,
Mr. Review,
The Monochrome Set,
10cc,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Juan Atkins,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Freddie Wadling,
Gichy Dan,
The Gories,
Magazine,
Ultimate Spinach,
The Residents,
The Searchers,
Peter and Kerry,
Rapeman,
Unwound,
the Germs,
The Zeros,
Joe Smooth,
Joyce Sims,
Scrapy,
the Fania All-Stars,
Organ,
DNA,
Barclay James Harvest,
Von Mondo,
Supertramp,
Eurythmics,
Con Funk Shun,
Unrelated Segments,
the Swans,
8 Eyed Spy,
Crime,
The Saints,
Banda Bassotti,
Steve Hackett,
Pole,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Drive Like Jehu,
Frankie Knuckles, Frankie Knuckles, Frankie Knuckles, Frankie Knuckles.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.