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 East Timor and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1961 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
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 Black Flag to the grime kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Lakeside. All the underground hits.
All Saccharine Trust tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Monochrome Set record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 chamberlin and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Buzzcocks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Human League,
Funky Four + One,
Nils Olav,
The Slackers,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Cybotron,
Lou Reed,
The Saints,
Roxy Music,
Lightning Bolt,
The Flesh Eaters,
Rakim,
The Pretty Things,
Neil Young,
Tommy Roe,
Neu!,
Eddi Front,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Raincoats,
Amazonics,
Young Marble Giants,
Eric Copeland,
Sun Ra,
Radio Birdman,
Ponytail,
Yellowson,
Joe Smooth,
U.S. Maple,
Bad Manners,
The Toasters,
H. Thieme,
Todd Rundgren,
the Association,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
The Electric Prunes,
The Residents,
Anthony Braxton,
Connie Case,
Procol Harum,
Grey Daturas,
UT,
Chris Corsano,
Visage,
The Smoke,
Don Cherry,
Lower 48,
Gastr Del Sol,
Sam Rivers,
Andrew Hill,
The Gories,
Wolf Eyes,
MC5,
Dave Gahan,
The Litter,
James White and The Blacks,
The Gun Club,
Matthew Bourne,
Model 500,
Fatback Band,
Lindisfarne,
Bizarre Inc.,
Tubeway Army,
Lungfish,
Marshall Jefferson, Marshall Jefferson, Marshall Jefferson, Marshall Jefferson.
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.