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 South Sudan and from Delhi.
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 1968 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 marimba 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 Gerry Rafferty to the jazz 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 Skaos. All the underground hits.
All Thompson Twins tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Warren Ellis record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 a snare and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Electric Prunes record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Khruangbin,
Tim Buckley,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The J.B.'s,
Niagra,
The Happenings,
Andrew Hill,
The Five Americans,
Negative Approach,
David Bowie,
Terrestrial Tones,
June of 44,
Shoche,
Reuben Wilson,
The Monochrome Set,
The Tremeloes,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Symarip,
These Immortal Souls,
Isaac Hayes,
Hoover,
The Fire Engines,
Sight & Sound,
Todd Rundgren,
Maleditus Sound,
Silicon Teens,
Yusef Lateef,
Crispy Ambulance,
Marcia Griffiths,
Black Moon,
Procol Harum,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Human League,
Zero Boys,
Kool Moe Dee,
Gang of Four,
The Star Department,
The Martian,
Marvin Gaye,
Wire,
EPMD,
Young Marble Giants,
Underground Resistance,
Loose Ends,
Maurizio,
Masters at Work,
the Soft Cell,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Gang Green,
Saccharine Trust,
Minutemen,
The Standells,
the Normal,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Dead Boys,
Kaleidoscope,
Public Enemy,
Organ,
Bootsy Collins,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
E-Dancer, E-Dancer, E-Dancer, E-Dancer.
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.