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 Botswana and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Steve Hackett to the punk 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 Colin Newman. All the underground hits.
All Loose Ends tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Royal Family And The Poor record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mark Hollis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fad Gadget,
The Blackbyrds,
Avey Tare,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Jesper Dahlback,
The Barracudas,
The Smiths,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Newcleus,
Stiv Bators,
Man Eating Sloth,
Soft Machine,
Crispian St. Peters,
Soft Cell,
Pantaleimon,
The American Breed,
Wolf Eyes,
Roy Ayers,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Cure,
John Foxx,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Porter Ricks,
Urselle,
Electric Prunes,
The New Christs,
Barry Ungar,
Lee Hazlewood,
Sister Nancy,
JFA,
The Neon Judgement,
The Doors,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Busters,
Camberwell Now,
The Cramps,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Blake Baxter,
Panda Bear,
Los Fastidios,
Bobby Womack,
Guru Guru,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Yellowson,
Zapp,
Fugazi,
Soulsonic Force,
Bush Tetras,
ABC,
R.M.O.,
Monolake,
Saccharine Trust,
Parry Music,
Brand Nubian,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The J.B.'s,
The Dead C,
Make Up,
The Seeds,
the Sonics,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Sparks,
Alphaville, Alphaville, Alphaville, Alphaville.
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.