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 Ethiopia and from Johannesburg.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 Wire practice in a loft in Watford.
I was working on the sitar 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 the Normal to the disco 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 Can. All the underground hits.
All Slave tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Smiths 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sun Ra Arkestra record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Bang On A Can,
Charles Mingus,
Outsiders,
Wolf Eyes,
Intrusion,
Radiohead,
Newcleus,
Public Image Ltd.,
John Foxx,
DJ Sneak,
Patti Smith,
Niagra,
Ronan,
The New Christs,
The Tremeloes,
The Invisible,
Sun City Girls,
D'Angelo,
The Raincoats,
The Associates,
John Cale,
Archie Shepp,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
ABC,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Johnny Clarke,
X-101,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The Move,
Nirvana,
Yaz,
Bluetip,
Hoover,
OOIOO,
Gil Scott Heron,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Marvin Gaye,
The Zeros,
Eli Mardock,
Motorama,
Yellowson,
The Remains,
MDC,
Leonard Cohen,
Con Funk Shun,
10cc,
Gong,
Drexciya,
Heaven 17,
Janne Schatter,
Man Parrish,
The Electric Prunes,
the Swans,
In Retrospect,
Dawn Penn,
New Age Steppers,
F. McDonald,
the Germs,
Eric Dolphy,
Cameo,
Davy DMX, Davy DMX, Davy DMX, Davy DMX.
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.