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 Iceland and from Portland.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Robert Hood to the jazz kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Loose Ends. All the underground hits.
All Neil Young tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Brick record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bob Dylan record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Nik Kershaw,
ABC,
Moby Grape,
The Mummies,
Boz Scaggs,
Brothers Johnson,
The Move,
One Last Wish,
Cabaret Voltaire,
June Days,
Gang Green,
Scan 7,
Lungfish,
Stockholm Monsters,
The Gap Band,
The Evens,
Moebius,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Suburban Knight,
Essential Logic,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Real Kids,
The Five Americans,
Cymande,
Radiohead,
Morten Harket,
Public Image Ltd.,
Amon Düül,
CMW,
Lebanon Hanover,
Marc Almond,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Amon Düül II,
the Association,
Alton Ellis,
Sarah Menescal,
Sight & Sound,
The Dead C,
Crispian St. Peters,
the Germs,
Josef K,
Throbbing Gristle,
Delon & Dalcan,
Severed Heads,
Das Ding,
Altered Images,
Underground Resistance,
Television Personalities,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Nico,
Peter & Gordon,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
The Music Machine,
Black Sheep,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
John Foxx,
Neil Young,
Harmonia,
The Golliwogs,
Juan Atkins,
Lalann,
Rakim, Rakim, Rakim, Rakim.
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.