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 Bulgaria and from Houston.
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 1967 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Halifax.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 1976 at the first Wire practice in a loft in Watford.
I was working on the oboe 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 Harmonia to the crunk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Terrestrial Tones. All the underground hits.
All Black Sheep tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lalann record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a rhodes 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 güiro and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kool Moe Dee,
Scott Walker,
Niagra,
Oneida,
The Trojans,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Inner City,
Gang Starr,
Quantec,
Lungfish,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Section 25,
The Pretty Things,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Bad Manners,
H. Thieme,
The Knickerbockers,
Yusef Lateef,
Babytalk,
The Invisible,
The Fall,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Gong,
Traffic Nightmare,
Y Pants,
The Five Americans,
Symarip,
Erykah Badu,
Ultravox,
10cc,
Con Funk Shun,
Sun City Girls,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Index,
Nils Olav,
Black Flag,
Fugazi,
Quando Quango,
Kayak,
the Germs,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
John Cale,
Sonic Youth,
Easy Going,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Soul Sonic Force,
Cecil Taylor,
Gang Gang Dance,
Gil Scott Heron,
Ohio Players,
Leonard Cohen,
Jeff Lynne,
The Wake,
Mandrill,
Motorama,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Severed Heads,
Janne Schatter,
Half Japanese,
Zero Boys,
Eyeless In Gaza,
The Monks, The Monks, The Monks, The Monks.
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.