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 Vanuatu and from Lille.
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 1969 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 1978 at the first Visage practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the marimba 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 John Coltrane to the techno kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Suicide. All the underground hits.
All Fad Gadget tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Gun Club 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Unwound record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Doobie Brothers,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Mantronix,
Lindisfarne,
Fat Boys,
Rosa Yemen,
The Slackers,
Roger Hodgson,
Dave Gahan,
Sonny Sharrock,
Derrick Morgan,
Brick,
Sugar Minott,
Sällskapet,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Gerry Rafferty,
The Blackbyrds,
The Move,
Bizarre Inc.,
Au Pairs,
Quantec,
AZ,
Sandy B,
Groovy Waters,
Albert Ayler,
The Monochrome Set,
Rakim,
Kevin Saunderson,
Eric B and Rakim,
Marshall Jefferson,
Crooked Eye,
Scientists,
The Gap Band,
Silicon Teens,
Wolf Eyes,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Fire Engines,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Slave,
8 Eyed Spy,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Q and Not U,
Scratch Acid,
The Stooges,
Eli Mardock,
Goldenarms,
Jacques Brel,
Juan Atkins,
Arthur Verocai,
Tommy Roe,
Babytalk,
Panda Bear,
The Walker Brothers,
Glambeats Corp.,
Flamin' Groovies,
Agitation Free,
Jawbox,
The United States of America,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Spoonie Gee,
Lower 48,
Whodini, Whodini, Whodini, Whodini.
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.