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 Malta and from Johannesburg.
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 1963 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 1975 at the first Throbbing Gristle practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Selector Dub Narcotic to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Ultramagnetic MC's. All the underground hits.
All Easy Going tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rufus Thomas record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bobby Byrd record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Young Marble Giants,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Harry Pussy,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Charles Mingus,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Gil Scott Heron,
Mo-Dettes,
Tears for Fears,
the Swans,
Toni Rubio,
Angry Samoans,
Scientists,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Roger Hodgson,
Sister Nancy,
Qualms,
Deepchord,
June of 44,
Cameo,
Dark Day,
Crime,
Tropical Tobacco,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Faust,
Peter & Gordon,
Dave Gahan,
Johnny Clarke,
Jeru the Damaja,
Jandek,
David Axelrod,
Gastr Del Sol,
Tubeway Army,
The Toasters,
The Music Machine,
Morten Harket,
Marshall Jefferson,
Prince Buster,
The Seeds,
John Foxx,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Lalann,
Bob Dylan,
Lightning Bolt,
Procol Harum,
Minnie Riperton,
Lucky Dragons,
Radiohead,
Hoover,
Brass Construction,
The Fall,
The Zeros,
Whodini,
Man Parrish,
Mission of Burma,
Joey Negro,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Marmalade,
Newcleus,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Schoolly D,
Anakelly,
Bobby Sherman, Bobby Sherman, Bobby Sherman, Bobby Sherman.
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.