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 Nigeria and from Milan.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the snare 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 PIL to the dance 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 Kerri Chandler. All the underground hits.
All Sonny Sharrock tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bang on a Can All-Stars 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Names record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Stereo Dub,
The Fire Engines,
La Düsseldorf,
Depeche Mode,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Minutemen,
Gastr Del Sol,
Terrestrial Tones,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Eric Copeland,
Mad Mike,
Lungfish,
Interpol,
B.T. Express,
Scion,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Animal Collective,
kango's stein massive,
Public Enemy,
Howard Jones,
Moss Icon,
The Moody Blues,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
E-Dancer,
Radiohead,
Sun City Girls,
Saccharine Trust,
Soul II Soul,
Pharoah Sanders,
the Soft Cell,
The Velvet Underground,
the Sonics,
Barrington Levy,
Smog,
Essential Logic,
The Real Kids,
Soft Cell,
Kerrie Biddell,
The Toasters,
Reuben Wilson,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Joe Smooth,
Porter Ricks,
Donny Hathaway,
Country Teasers,
Gichy Dan,
Spandau Ballet,
Scott Walker,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
David McCallum,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Eve St. Jones,
Wolf Eyes,
Arthur Verocai,
The Doobie Brothers,
This Heat,
Technova,
Leonard Cohen,
Black Sheep,
Wally Richardson,
Crooked Eye,
Agitation Free,
Hot Snakes,
Sunsets and Hearts, Sunsets and Hearts, Sunsets and Hearts, Sunsets and Hearts.
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.