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 Latvia and from Lagos.
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 1965 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 mellotron 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 Colin Newman to the rock kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 The Slits. All the underground hits.
All Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Human League 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a chamberlin 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 guitar and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Alison Limerick,
Suicide,
Talk Talk,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Camouflage,
Pet Shop Boys,
Bobby Sherman,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Ornette Coleman,
Graham Central Station,
The Sound,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
The Fall,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Quadrant,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Litter,
Mission of Burma,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Grey Daturas,
Shuggie Otis,
JFA,
Soulsonic Force,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Simply Red,
Maleditus Sound,
The Knickerbockers,
The Standells,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Spoonie Gee,
The Raincoats,
Gil Scott Heron,
Black Bananas,
MC5,
Moby Grape,
Dead Boys,
Quando Quango,
The Blues Magoos,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Young Marble Giants,
Mars,
Pulsallama,
Nico,
Rotary Connection,
Saccharine Trust,
10cc,
Sex Pistols,
The Fugs,
Barrington Levy,
Byron Stingily,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Altered Images,
Au Pairs,
The J.B.'s,
Kas Product,
The Alarm Clocks,
Ten City, Ten City, Ten City, Ten City.
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.