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 Jordan and from Toronto.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1964 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 The Fall to the crunk 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 Mission of Burma. All the underground hits.
All The J.B.'s tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Radiopuhelimet record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a sitar 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 sitar and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Throbbing Gristle,
Nick Fraelich,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Arcadia,
the Bar-Kays,
Black Pus,
Pharoah Sanders,
Jeff Lynne,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Moss Icon,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Shoche,
Jeru the Damaja,
Index,
Man Parrish,
The Golliwogs,
a-ha,
Moby Grape,
Flash Fearless,
Delon & Dalcan,
Altered Images,
kango's stein massive,
Eric B and Rakim,
Pylon,
Main Source,
Matthew Bourne,
The Residents,
Q and Not U,
Lou Christie,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Fall,
Skaos,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Boogie Down Productions,
Reuben Wilson,
Dual Sessions,
The Pop Group,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Hoover,
Susan Cadogan,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Pere Ubu,
The Tremeloes,
Yellowson,
Funky Four + One,
Harry Pussy,
The Gories,
Q65,
Kevin Saunderson,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Scrapy,
The United States of America,
Cheater Slicks,
Donny Hathaway,
Robert Wyatt,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Walker Brothers, The Walker Brothers, The Walker Brothers, The Walker Brothers.
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.