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 Guatemala 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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Wake to the grunge kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Franke. All the underground hits.
All Massinfluence tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Faust 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mad Mike record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
John Cale,
Derrick Morgan,
Matthew Bourne,
MDC,
Visage,
Arab on Radar,
Von Mondo,
Deadbeat,
Curtis Mayfield,
cv313,
The Fortunes,
Public Image Ltd.,
Little Man,
Eric Dolphy,
The Count Five,
Metal Thangz,
Supertramp,
Joensuu 1685,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Aloha Tigers,
Black Sheep,
Lucky Dragons,
The Misunderstood,
Althea and Donna,
Absolute Body Control,
Sandy B,
Mad Mike,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Erasure,
The Mummies,
Alison Limerick,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
MC5,
8 Eyed Spy,
The Gap Band,
Amon Düül,
Sexual Harrassment,
Excepter,
Babytalk,
Cymande,
These Immortal Souls,
Mary Jane Girls,
Faust,
Joy Division,
Black Flag,
The Divine Comedy,
The Associates,
Moss Icon,
Steve Hackett,
Fela Kuti,
The Stooges,
Cecil Taylor,
kango's stein massive,
Terrestrial Tones,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Television Personalities,
Silicon Teens,
Letta Mbulu,
Cal Tjader,
the Sonics,
Altered Images,
Outsiders,
Black Moon,
Byron Stingily, Byron Stingily, Byron Stingily, Byron Stingily.
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.