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 Liechtenstein and from Madrid.
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 1961 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 Joe Finger to the punk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Bootsy Collins. All the underground hits.
All Bill Wells tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Saccharine Trust record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mars record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gregory Isaacs,
Alphaville,
Fugazi,
Eurythmics,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Morten Harket,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
the Slits,
The Neon Judgement,
Althea and Donna,
Metal Thangz,
Stockholm Monsters,
Vladislav Delay,
Lightning Bolt,
John Holt,
Cecil Taylor,
Bronski Beat,
Faust,
Visage,
Thee Headcoats,
Tears for Fears,
The Durutti Column,
Scientists,
Soul II Soul,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Pole,
Alice Coltrane,
Sugar Minott,
Underground Resistance,
Traffic Nightmare,
Deakin,
Bush Tetras,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Jeff Lynne,
The Gun Club,
The Alarm Clocks,
the Human League,
Eve St. Jones,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Minnie Riperton,
Iggy Pop,
Monolake,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Jandek,
Babytalk,
Popol Vuh,
Negative Approach,
Kayak,
Blake Baxter,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The Dave Clark Five,
Lou Christie,
Boz Scaggs,
Idris Muhammad,
Ronnie Foster,
The Tremeloes,
The Electric Prunes,
T. Rex,
Howard Jones,
Section 25, Section 25, Section 25, Section 25.
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.