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 Zambia and from Tokyo.
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 1964 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 mellotron 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 The Tremeloes to the dance 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 Rakim. All the underground hits.
All Lonnie Liston Smith tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every De La Soul & Jungle Brothers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Connie Case record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Knickerbockers,
Bronski Beat,
Alison Limerick,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
the Fania All-Stars,
Alphaville,
The New Christs,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
L. Decosne,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Jeff Lynne,
Sly & The Family Stone,
EPMD,
Lucky Dragons,
The Fire Engines,
The Detroit Cobras,
The Slits,
Man Parrish,
David Bowie,
The Cure,
Todd Rundgren,
Sparks,
Aural Exciters,
Stiv Bators,
Soul II Soul,
Sonny Sharrock,
Von Mondo,
Quando Quango,
The Searchers,
Main Source,
The Victims,
Infiniti,
the Human League,
Fat Boys,
Public Enemy,
Howard Jones,
Robert Görl,
Reuben Wilson,
Underground Resistance,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Amon Düül II,
James White and The Blacks,
Half Japanese,
the Soft Cell,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Outsiders,
Brick,
John Lydon,
The Barracudas,
DJ Sneak,
D'Angelo,
Grey Daturas,
Scion,
Neu!,
Camouflage,
Tom Boy,
Derrick May,
Minny Pops,
Moebius,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
the Germs,
Glambeats Corp., Glambeats Corp., Glambeats Corp., Glambeats Corp..
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.