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 Colombia and from Beijing.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Sunsets and Hearts to the funk kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 The Shadows of Knight. All the underground hits.
All the Sonics tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every James White and The Blacks 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Derrick May record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Wally Richardson,
Fugazi,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Kenny Larkin,
Chrome,
Bob Dylan,
Andrew Hill,
Surgeon,
JFA,
Throbbing Gristle,
Aaron Thompson,
The Invisible,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Icehouse,
Hasil Adkins,
Lucky Dragons,
Spandau Ballet,
the Sonics,
Young Marble Giants,
Cluster,
T. Rex,
Pulsallama,
Robert Görl,
Blossom Toes,
Crash Course in Science,
Al Stewart,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Q and Not U,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Youth Brigade,
David Axelrod,
The United States of America,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Techniques,
Charles Mingus,
F. McDonald,
Scratch Acid,
Warsaw,
Pagans,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
PIL,
Colin Newman,
Audionom,
Gregory Isaacs,
Average White Band,
Mo-Dettes,
Mandrill,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Henry Cow,
Mary Jane Girls,
Erasure,
Amazonics,
Gabor Szabo,
Vladislav Delay,
Freddie Wadling,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Porter Ricks,
The Sound, The Sound, The Sound, The Sound.
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.