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 Costa Rica and from Madrid.
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 1961 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the 808 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 Amon Düül II to the grime kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Be Bop Deluxe. All the underground hits.
All Marvin Gaye tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ronnie Foster record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 harpsichord and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Offenders record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Reagan Youth,
the Bar-Kays,
This Heat,
Gang Gang Dance,
The United States of America,
Funkadelic,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Idris Muhammad,
The Fall,
The Red Krayola,
Pharoah Sanders,
Max Romeo,
Crispian St. Peters,
Zapp,
Interpol,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Connie Case,
Stiv Bators,
Kaleidoscope,
Chris & Cosey,
The Five Americans,
The J.B.'s,
Dawn Penn,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Cabaret Voltaire,
JFA,
Hoover,
Man Eating Sloth,
Mo-Dettes,
Alphaville,
Joensuu 1685,
The Flesh Eaters,
Joe Finger,
Sun City Girls,
Lebanon Hanover,
Throbbing Gristle,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Soul Sonic Force,
Stereo Dub,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Buckinghams,
Charles Mingus,
Johnny Osbourne,
H. Thieme,
AZ,
Henry Cow,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Amazonics,
Gong,
Avey Tare,
The Dirtbombs,
Magma,
Sparks,
Q and Not U,
cv313,
The Martian,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Kurtis Blow,
Echospace,
Pet Shop Boys, Pet Shop Boys, Pet Shop Boys, Pet Shop Boys.
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.