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 Cameroon and from Tokyo.
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 1968 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Harpers Bizarre to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Altered Images. All the underground hits.
All Jandek tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mark Hollis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
DJ Style,
The Moody Blues,
Graham Central Station,
Pere Ubu,
Fad Gadget,
Ten City,
Scan 7,
X-102,
Infiniti,
The Mummies,
Tubeway Army,
Electric Prunes,
MC5,
Soulsonic Force,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Grauzone,
Hasil Adkins,
Harpers Bizarre,
Toni Rubio,
Girls At Our Best!,
The Smoke,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Tommy Roe,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
the Sonics,
Visage,
Grey Daturas,
Mark Hollis,
Bad Manners,
Quadrant,
The Mojo Men,
John Cale,
Steve Hackett,
Sexual Harrassment,
Yellowson,
Jacques Brel,
Fear,
Television,
KRS-One,
Cheater Slicks,
Delon & Dalcan,
Nick Fraelich,
Au Pairs,
Johnny Osbourne,
Country Teasers,
Fela Kuti,
Oneida,
Kerrie Biddell,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Jandek,
Mo-Dettes,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Rufus Thomas,
Porter Ricks,
Groovy Waters,
Cecil Taylor,
Chris & Cosey,
Marshall Jefferson,
Quando Quango,
Skarface,
The Vogues,
Dead Boys, Dead Boys, Dead Boys, Dead Boys.
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.