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 Comoros and from Paris.
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 1960 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the linndrum 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 Sonny Sharrock to the grunge 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 Camouflage. All the underground hits.
All Kurtis Blow tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Tears for Fears record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 chamberlin and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Skatalites record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cabaret Voltaire,
Heaven 17,
Bobby Womack,
Aaron Thompson,
Los Fastidios,
The Seeds,
Qualms,
Bauhaus,
Mo-Dettes,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Kurtis Blow,
Absolute Body Control,
Tom Boy,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Jimmy McGriff,
Section 25,
The Modern Lovers,
Iggy Pop,
The Electric Prunes,
Terry Callier,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Nik Kershaw,
Cluster,
Aural Exciters,
the Association,
Harry Pussy,
Donny Hathaway,
Electric Prunes,
The Flesh Eaters,
Pantytec,
Flash Fearless,
Urselle,
Q65,
Scratch Acid,
LL Cool J,
The Buckinghams,
Nick Fraelich,
Make Up,
Country Teasers,
Pussy Galore,
Joey Negro,
Pylon,
Mandrill,
Intrusion,
X-101,
The Fall,
Reuben Wilson,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Basic Channel,
Marvin Gaye,
Grey Daturas,
Spandau Ballet,
Alison Limerick,
Mark Hollis,
Sexual Harrassment,
Blake Baxter,
In Retrospect,
The Slits,
Warsaw,
Visage,
The Busters, The Busters, The Busters, The Busters.
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.