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 Ecuador 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 1965 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Gang of Four to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Swans. All the underground hits.
All Barbara Tucker tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 synthesizer and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Crispian St. Peters record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Blake Baxter,
Schoolly D,
The Dave Clark Five,
LL Cool J,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Blancmange,
Qualms,
Groovy Waters,
ABBA,
Bobby Womack,
Agitation Free,
Marshall Jefferson,
DJ Style,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Pharoah Sanders,
Drive Like Jehu,
Lungfish,
The Divine Comedy,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Colin Newman,
Fat Boys,
the Soft Cell,
Talk Talk,
Barbara Tucker,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Q and Not U,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Althea and Donna,
Scratch Acid,
Audionom,
Eddi Front,
Section 25,
Inner City,
Nik Kershaw,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
The Blackbyrds,
The Seeds,
The Fall,
Minny Pops,
Man Eating Sloth,
Intrusion,
Second Layer,
Gil Scott Heron,
Television,
Electric Prunes,
Stockholm Monsters,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Mantronix,
Nils Olav,
PIL,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Wings,
The Sound,
The New Christs,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Iggy Pop,
Joe Smooth,
Heaven 17,
Make Up,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Jandek, Jandek, Jandek, Jandek.
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.