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 Afghanistan and from Sao Paulo.
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 1961 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 harpsichord 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 Kool G Rap & DJ Polo to the electroclash 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 Porter Ricks. All the underground hits.
All The Red Krayola tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Altered Images record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Josef K record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Clear Light,
Grey Daturas,
Rod Modell,
Lou Reed,
Marshall Jefferson,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
the Slits,
Soul II Soul,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Lightning Bolt,
Wings,
Girls At Our Best!,
Cameo,
World's Most,
The Mummies,
Cheater Slicks,
David Bowie,
Faust,
Anthony Braxton,
Nirvana,
Rakim,
Model 500,
Negative Approach,
Banda Bassotti,
Malaria!,
Zero Boys,
Rapeman,
Kenny Larkin,
The Cramps,
Suicide,
Gang Green,
Soft Machine,
Faraquet,
Funky Four + One,
Quando Quango,
Junior Murvin,
Robert Hood,
Pierre Henry,
This Heat,
Blancmange,
Steve Hackett,
Moebius,
Country Teasers,
Q65,
Bluetip,
Gastr Del Sol,
Al Stewart,
Gang Starr,
MC5,
cv313,
Flamin' Groovies,
The Tremeloes,
the Swans,
Juan Atkins,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Peter & Gordon,
X-102,
Brand Nubian,
Massinfluence,
Lucky Dragons,
Ossler,
Electric Light Orchestra, Electric Light Orchestra, Electric Light Orchestra, Electric Light Orchestra.
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.