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 Indonesia and from Shanghai.
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 1961 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 1975 at the first Throbbing Gristle practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Rahsaan Roland Kirk to the punk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Easy Going. All the underground hits.
All The Vogues tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every These Immortal Souls record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sun Ra Arkestra record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sandy B,
Soul II Soul,
Circle Jerks,
Bronski Beat,
Siglo XX,
The Red Krayola,
Rhythm & Sound,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Bill Wells,
AZ,
Khruangbin,
The Blackbyrds,
Los Fastidios,
The Gories,
Zero Boys,
The Dave Clark Five,
Bang On A Can,
Throbbing Gristle,
OOIOO,
Camberwell Now,
Altered Images,
Fela Kuti,
Ken Boothe,
The Music Machine,
Eve St. Jones,
Pole,
The Last Poets,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Tim Buckley,
Fad Gadget,
Porter Ricks,
John Holt,
The Fuzztones,
Cymande,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Stereo Dub,
Excepter,
DJ Sneak,
PIL,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Gang of Four,
Skriet,
New Age Steppers,
Oblivians,
Nirvana,
Grauzone,
The Searchers,
Swell Maps,
The Angels of Light,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
New Order,
Jacob Miller,
Royal Trux,
Reuben Wilson,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
The Knickerbockers,
ABBA,
The Cowsills,
The Doors,
Theoretical Girls, Theoretical Girls, Theoretical Girls, Theoretical Girls.
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.