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 Nicaragua and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle show in London.
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 1969 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Pierre Henry to the grime 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 Moss Icon. All the underground hits.
All Rhythim Is Rhythim tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Johnny Osbourne record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Brand Nubian record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Spoonie Gee,
The Moleskins,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
David Bowie,
James White and The Blacks,
The Pretty Things,
D'Angelo,
Bootsy Collins,
Max Romeo,
Lalann,
These Immortal Souls,
Dead Boys,
Icehouse,
Severed Heads,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Human League,
Barbara Tucker,
Bill Wells,
Laurel Aitken,
Swell Maps,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Roxy Music,
Au Pairs,
Alton Ellis,
Jeff Mills,
Qualms,
Yellowson,
Eli Mardock,
The Associates,
Unrelated Segments,
Nirvana,
Crispy Ambulance,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
The Victims,
Echospace,
The Residents,
Minutemen,
Altered Images,
Lakeside,
10cc,
CMW,
The American Breed,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
the Fania All-Stars,
Nik Kershaw,
Newcleus,
Duran Duran,
Sonic Youth,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Guru Guru,
Brand Nubian,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
The Leaves,
Maurizio,
Inner City,
The Velvet Underground,
Delon & Dalcan,
Yazoo,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Heaven 17, Heaven 17, Heaven 17, Heaven 17.
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.