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 Djibouti 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 1968 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Soft Cell 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 Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx. All the underground hits.
All Wally Richardson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Q65 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Matthew Bourne record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gil Scott Heron,
The Fuzztones,
John Coltrane,
Skaos,
Oblivians,
Aural Exciters,
Animal Collective,
Brick,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Letta Mbulu,
Tom Boy,
Mr. Review,
Dead Boys,
Swell Maps,
Radiohead,
The Moody Blues,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Crispian St. Peters,
Con Funk Shun,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Pantaleimon,
Arthur Verocai,
The New Christs,
Joe Smooth,
Iggy Pop,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Blake Baxter,
Ice-T,
Deepchord,
Ultra Naté,
The Busters,
The Star Department,
The J.B.'s,
Gerry Rafferty,
Thompson Twins,
The United States of America,
Q65,
The Zeros,
Hashim,
Section 25,
The Alarm Clocks,
B.T. Express,
Panda Bear,
Grandmaster Flash,
the Bar-Kays,
Icehouse,
Tim Buckley,
Al Stewart,
D'Angelo,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Smoke,
Drexciya,
Aaron Thompson,
One Last Wish,
Bronski Beat,
Organ,
Albert Ayler,
Tres Demented,
Crash Course in Science,
Mars, Mars, Mars, Mars.
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.