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 Italy and from New York.
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 1969 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the oboe 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 Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five to the punk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 New Age Steppers. All the underground hits.
All Funky Four + One tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Justin Hinds & The Dominoes record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Warren Ellis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Altered Images,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
The Smiths,
Lightning Bolt,
Gabor Szabo,
Jeff Mills,
The Victims,
James Chance & The Contortions,
This Heat,
L. Decosne,
Kayak,
Lou Christie,
LL Cool J,
Radiohead,
K-Klass,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Amazonics,
the Soft Cell,
Rosa Yemen,
Leonard Cohen,
Al Stewart,
Wire,
Eric Copeland,
Quando Quango,
Mo-Dettes,
The Moody Blues,
Schoolly D,
Ultimate Spinach,
Moby Grape,
Chrome,
Ken Boothe,
Tropical Tobacco,
Country Teasers,
Todd Terry,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Moss Icon,
Matthew Bourne,
The Raincoats,
John Cale,
Reuben Wilson,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Laurel Aitken,
the Germs,
Fat Boys,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Skaos,
Nik Kershaw,
The Cure,
Japan,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Pagans,
The Searchers,
Swell Maps,
Joey Negro,
Fear,
Urselle,
Arcadia,
Robert Görl,
Thompson Twins,
Ash Ra Tempel, Ash Ra Tempel, Ash Ra Tempel, Ash Ra Tempel.
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.