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 Thailand and from Lagos.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 PIL to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Lightning Bolt. All the underground hits.
All the Soft Cell tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Absolute Body Control 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Patti Smith record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cymande,
Bobby Womack,
Darondo,
the Fania All-Stars,
Surgeon,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Charles Mingus,
Maleditus Sound,
The Last Poets,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Dual Sessions,
Jimmy McGriff,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
The Happenings,
Tom Boy,
Camouflage,
Rotary Connection,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Rites of Spring,
The Beau Brummels,
The Vogues,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
This Heat,
John Coltrane,
Babytalk,
Roxette,
Gang Green,
Lalann,
Jacob Miller,
Connie Case,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Loose Ends,
Icehouse,
Quadrant,
Althea and Donna,
Guru Guru,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Dead C,
Ludus,
Todd Terry,
Kool Moe Dee,
Skriet,
Buzzcocks,
New York Dolls,
Harry Pussy,
Amon Düül,
Radiopuhelimet,
Brass Construction,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Sister Nancy,
The Fugs,
Clear Light,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
The New Christs,
Adolescents,
Nation of Ulysses,
Jawbox,
Ken Boothe,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Ice-T,
Lou Reed,
Scientists,
Mark Hollis,
Spandau Ballet, Spandau Ballet, Spandau Ballet, Spandau Ballet.
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.