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 Liberia and from Portland.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Winnipeg.
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 1978 at the first Visage practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the güiro 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 Rapeman to the jazz 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 Nation of Ulysses. All the underground hits.
All The United States of America tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nico record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kango’s Stein Massive record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Names,
Depeche Mode,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Move,
Lungfish,
Matthew Halsall,
Hot Snakes,
Jesper Dahlback,
The Sonics,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Lower 48,
The Motions,
Cymande,
Radiopuhelimet,
Drexciya,
The Searchers,
The Fortunes,
Kool Moe Dee,
the Human League,
Joyce Sims,
Anakelly,
Oblivians,
Lindisfarne,
Kas Product,
The Young Rascals,
Eric B and Rakim,
Boredoms,
Symarip,
Swell Maps,
Q65,
Sound Behaviour,
Duran Duran,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Nas,
Jacob Miller,
Chrome,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
The Smiths,
Alice Coltrane,
John Foxx,
Susan Cadogan,
Mark Hollis,
Sonny Sharrock,
X-101,
The Happenings,
Ultra Naté,
Dead Boys,
Lou Reed,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The Stooges,
Barry Ungar,
AZ,
Jacques Brel,
The Fall,
Jawbox,
Josef K,
The Cramps,
Terry Callier,
Hoover,
Robert Görl,
Second Layer,
Underground Resistance,
Scott Walker, Scott Walker, Scott Walker, Scott Walker.
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.