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 El Salvador and from Hong Kong.
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 1966 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 1977 at the first Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the sitar 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 Max Romeo 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 Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu. All the underground hits.
All The Smoke tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gil Scott Heron 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Yazoo record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare 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?
David Axelrod,
Scrapy,
Lalo Schifrin,
Jeff Mills,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Bronski Beat,
Chrome,
Traffic Nightmare,
Delta 5,
Heaven 17,
Pere Ubu,
Pole,
The Pretty Things,
Moebius,
Alison Limerick,
Crooked Eye,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Marcia Griffiths,
Yazoo,
Tubeway Army,
Harmonia,
Massinfluence,
Qualms,
Main Source,
Barclay James Harvest,
Tom Boy,
Hashim,
Soulsonic Force,
The Sonics,
Loose Ends,
Godley & Creme,
The Invisible,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
CMW,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Cramps,
The Barracudas,
Boredoms,
Newcleus,
Lindisfarne,
Spandau Ballet,
Jacques Brel,
a-ha,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
David McCallum,
Hasil Adkins,
Jandek,
Man Parrish,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Soul II Soul,
Khruangbin,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
New Order,
Outsiders,
Harry Pussy,
Bang On A Can,
R.M.O.,
Neil Young,
Fad Gadget,
Soft Machine,
Mission of Burma,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Standells, The Standells, The Standells, The Standells.
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.