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 Uruguay and from Shanghai.
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 1962 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 spring reverb 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 Liliput to the funk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Suicide. All the underground hits.
All Groovy Waters tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Angels of Light & Akron/Family record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Idris Muhammad record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Agent Orange,
Mary Jane Girls,
One Last Wish,
K-Klass,
Laurel Aitken,
The Neon Judgement,
Flamin' Groovies,
Cal Tjader,
Warren Ellis,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Rakim,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
The Associates,
FM Einheit,
World's Most,
Janne Schatter,
Moss Icon,
Marshall Jefferson,
Das Ding,
Saccharine Trust,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The Human League,
Johnny Clarke,
Hot Snakes,
James White and The Blacks,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Leonard Cohen,
The Selecter,
Theoretical Girls,
Negative Approach,
The Knickerbockers,
Groovy Waters,
Rosa Yemen,
Kool Moe Dee,
Piero Umiliani,
New Order,
La Düsseldorf,
KRS-One,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Grass Roots,
The Index,
Cymande,
Idris Muhammad,
Throbbing Gristle,
Fat Boys,
JFA,
China Crisis,
Joe Smooth,
The Gladiators,
Y Pants,
Ken Boothe,
Lee Hazlewood,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
the Swans,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Drexciya,
The Modern Lovers,
Cluster,
The Buckinghams,
Dorothy Ashby,
Monolake, Monolake, Monolake, Monolake.
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.