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 Tunisia and from Manila.
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 1960 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Maurizio to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Oneida. All the underground hits.
All Sun Ra Arkestra tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lou Reed & John Cale 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bauhaus record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Angry Samoans,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Anakelly,
Yellowson,
B.T. Express,
Clear Light,
Outsiders,
Gichy Dan,
Harpers Bizarre,
Lakeside,
Sarah Menescal,
PIL,
Lightning Bolt,
New Age Steppers,
Wings,
The Pop Group,
The Detroit Cobras,
Pierre Henry,
Maurizio,
Marvin Gaye,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Altered Images,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Quadrant,
Tears for Fears,
Magazine,
Slick Rick,
David Bowie,
Letta Mbulu,
R.M.O.,
Stockholm Monsters,
Blake Baxter,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Piero Umiliani,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Cameo,
Quando Quango,
Y Pants,
X-102,
Grauzone,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Crime,
Gong,
Gang Green,
Massinfluence,
James White and The Blacks,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Gories,
The Raincoats,
Big Daddy Kane,
Ossler,
The Mummies,
Pet Shop Boys,
Rhythm & Sound,
Johnny Clarke,
Pylon,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Jacques Brel,
Avey Tare,
Bill Near,
Hoover,
Judy Mowatt, Judy Mowatt, Judy Mowatt, Judy Mowatt.
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.