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 Ghana and from Philadelphia.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 1978 at the first Visage practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the chamberlin 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 Con Funk Shun to the jazz 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 The Evens. All the underground hits.
All John Holt tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Visage 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and an organ 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 sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Warren Ellis,
Bizarre Inc.,
UT,
Harmonia,
the Fania All-Stars,
Fat Boys,
Terry Callier,
Lee Hazlewood,
Kerri Chandler,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
The Blues Magoos,
Bob Dylan,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Quadrant,
Adolescents,
Slick Rick,
Gregory Isaacs,
The Smoke,
Dennis Brown,
Boogie Down Productions,
James White and The Blacks,
Stiv Bators,
The Smiths,
D'Angelo,
Scratch Acid,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The Buckinghams,
Man Parrish,
Electric Prunes,
cv313,
Iggy Pop,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Rufus Thomas,
Davy DMX,
LL Cool J,
Swans,
Skarface,
the Sonics,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
the Human League,
Smog,
Banda Bassotti,
The Litter,
H. Thieme,
Subhumans,
Man Eating Sloth,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Glenn Branca,
Young Marble Giants,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Martian,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Delon & Dalcan,
John Cale,
Hoover,
Tim Buckley,
The Electric Prunes,
The Birthday Party,
Ken Boothe,
Make Up,
Matthew Bourne,
MDC,
Althea and Donna, Althea and Donna, Althea and Donna, Althea and Donna.
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.