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 Trinidad & Tobago and from Edmonton.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Normal to the grime kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Mission of Burma. All the underground hits.
All Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 a clarinet and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a a-ha record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sex Pistols,
Sonic Youth,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Cheater Slicks,
Aloha Tigers,
The Beau Brummels,
Bizarre Inc.,
Fela Kuti,
Roxette,
Spoonie Gee,
Crooked Eye,
Soul Sonic Force,
David Axelrod,
Harry Pussy,
The Pretty Things,
Cameo,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Sun City Girls,
Electric Prunes,
Outsiders,
Sexual Harrassment,
Soft Machine,
Masters at Work,
New Order,
Franke,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Fugs,
Sixth Finger,
Henry Cow,
Ken Boothe,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Gang Gang Dance,
Eric B and Rakim,
Flash Fearless,
Zapp,
Cymande,
Chris Corsano,
Black Pus,
Marshall Jefferson,
Thompson Twins,
The Blues Magoos,
Magazine,
Animal Collective,
Sällskapet,
L. Decosne,
Moebius,
Brothers Johnson,
The Fuzztones,
R.M.O.,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Danielle Patucci,
Joyce Sims,
Nik Kershaw,
Sound Behaviour,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Little Man,
Terrestrial Tones,
Jeru the Damaja,
Aural Exciters,
Junior Murvin,
Scratch Acid,
Theoretical Girls,
the Swans, the Swans, the Swans, the Swans.
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.