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 East Timor and from Beijing.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Dave Gahan to the punk 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 Wasted Youth. All the underground hits.
All Sällskapet tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Grey Daturas 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mary Jane Girls record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Scott Walker,
Eurythmics,
The Moody Blues,
Pulsallama,
John Coltrane,
Grey Daturas,
Wings,
John Foxx,
Kaleidoscope,
Angry Samoans,
Nirvana,
The Electric Prunes,
Pere Ubu,
Marine Girls,
Public Enemy,
Japan,
Todd Terry,
Absolute Body Control,
Tom Boy,
Half Japanese,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Ludus,
Joy Division,
The Music Machine,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Technova,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Monks,
Fad Gadget,
A Certain Ratio,
Colin Newman,
Slave,
Lou Christie,
Black Pus,
Thee Headcoats,
Aaron Thompson,
June of 44,
Television Personalities,
Barry Ungar,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
48th St. Collective,
Drive Like Jehu,
Average White Band,
the Fania All-Stars,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Neil Young,
The Mummies,
Buzzcocks,
Gang Gang Dance,
PIL,
The Standells,
Soul Sonic Force,
Hoover,
Massinfluence,
The Five Americans,
Crispian St. Peters,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Fatback Band,
Pole, Pole, Pole, Pole.
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.