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 Libya and from Woodstock.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1965 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Mark Hollis to the jazz 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 Hardrive. All the underground hits.
All Bang on a Can All-Stars tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Quadrant record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Stiv Bators,
Marmalade,
Colin Newman,
Cecil Taylor,
Rakim,
Mad Mike,
Pylon,
The Doobie Brothers,
David Bowie,
Tropical Tobacco,
New Age Steppers,
OOIOO,
JFA,
Lou Christie,
Gregory Isaacs,
Black Moon,
Subhumans,
Josef K,
Marshall Jefferson,
Rosa Yemen,
The Shadows of Knight,
Sandy B,
Das Ding,
Eden Ahbez,
Sister Nancy,
Eric B and Rakim,
Throbbing Gristle,
Marc Almond,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Con Funk Shun,
Darondo,
Tres Demented,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Porter Ricks,
Bizarre Inc.,
Joensuu 1685,
The Pretty Things,
Ash Ra Tempel,
The American Breed,
Essential Logic,
Section 25,
Mission of Burma,
Brick,
Godley & Creme,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Blancmange,
Moss Icon,
the Bar-Kays,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Underground Resistance,
Joe Finger,
Letta Mbulu,
Sarah Menescal,
Malaria!,
Rufus Thomas,
Ken Boothe,
The Fugs,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Sound, The Sound, The Sound, The Sound.
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.