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 Papua New Guinea and from Milan.
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 1963 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 synthesizer 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 Ludus to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Black Sheep. All the underground hits.
All Pere Ubu tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Arthur Verocai record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Mars,
Prince Buster,
Boredoms,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Thee Headcoats,
The Seeds,
KRS-One,
Sandy B,
Godley & Creme,
The Motions,
Wings,
The Pop Group,
Crispy Ambulance,
John Holt,
Youth Brigade,
Average White Band,
Amon Düül,
James White and The Blacks,
Laurel Aitken,
The Cowsills,
Ronan,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
The Residents,
Anakelly,
Big Daddy Kane,
DJ Sneak,
Faust,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Fugazi,
Deakin,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
PIL,
Jandek,
Alton Ellis,
The Index,
Interpol,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
The New Christs,
Fifty Foot Hose,
the Bar-Kays,
Reagan Youth,
David McCallum,
the Soft Cell,
Mantronix,
Isaac Hayes,
The Angels of Light,
Alice Coltrane,
Rapeman,
Ken Boothe,
Scratch Acid,
Sight & Sound,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Sound,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Lindisfarne,
The Zeros,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Fluxion,
Cheater Slicks,
T. Rex,
Eve St. Jones,
Fear,
Camberwell Now,
Stockholm Monsters, Stockholm Monsters, Stockholm Monsters, Stockholm Monsters.
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.