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 Guinea-Bissau and from New York.
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 1969 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City 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 synthesizer 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 Electric Light Orchestra to the rap kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Silicon Teens. All the underground hits.
All Bill Wells tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Public Image Ltd. 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kerri Chandler record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Flamin' Groovies,
Cameo,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Wire,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Pantaleimon,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Pantytec,
The Leaves,
Trumans Water,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Minny Pops,
Yellowson,
Robert Hood,
Rod Modell,
Loose Ends,
Scion,
Intrusion,
Sight & Sound,
Mo-Dettes,
Eddi Front,
Sun Ra,
Johnny Osbourne,
Delon & Dalcan,
Scan 7,
Roxy Music,
Sex Pistols,
Thompson Twins,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
The Evens,
The Dead C,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Monolake,
Can,
Livin' Joy,
Gang Starr,
The Invisible,
Rhythm & Sound,
Aaron Thompson,
Brass Construction,
The Seeds,
Kerri Chandler,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Ludus,
the Association,
The Zeros,
Kas Product,
Silicon Teens,
Albert Ayler,
The Victims,
R.M.O.,
Dead Boys,
Blancmange,
Saccharine Trust,
the Germs,
Fluxion,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The Happenings,
The Searchers,
Ituana,
T. Rex,
The Sound,
Fad Gadget, Fad Gadget, Fad Gadget, Fad Gadget.
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.