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 Gambia and from Glasgow.
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 1963 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 1975 at the first Throbbing Gristle practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Delon & Dalcan to the funk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 a-ha. All the underground hits.
All It's A Beautiful Day tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Fugs record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 a 808 and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Stiv Bators record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar 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?
Warsaw,
John Cale,
Bob Dylan,
The Neon Judgement,
Mr. Review,
Eric B and Rakim,
Sight & Sound,
Hasil Adkins,
Simply Red,
The Alarm Clocks,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Roger Hodgson,
The Wake,
Lakeside,
Rakim,
Scrapy,
The Victims,
The Invisible,
Cheater Slicks,
Gastr Del Sol,
World's Most,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Remains,
Arthur Verocai,
Archie Shepp,
Little Man,
Ponytail,
Reuben Wilson,
Ten City,
Circle Jerks,
Donny Hathaway,
Niagra,
The Human League,
Josef K,
the Association,
Letta Mbulu,
The Pop Group,
Erasure,
The Gun Club,
John Holt,
The Velvet Underground,
The Doors,
Parry Music,
Gang Green,
Black Bananas,
Bauhaus,
Schoolly D,
Alphaville,
Ken Boothe,
Surgeon,
Organ,
The Stooges,
The Skatalites,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
the Fania All-Stars,
Qualms,
Bootsy Collins,
Judy Mowatt,
Dual Sessions,
Brass Construction,
Janne Schatter,
Yellowson, Yellowson, Yellowson, Yellowson.
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.