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 Seychelles and from Milan.
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 1964 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Marcia Griffiths to the jazz 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 Franke. All the underground hits.
All Freddie Wadling tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Minutemen record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 güiro and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Section 25 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Mark Hollis,
Brick,
Todd Rundgren,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Johnny Clarke,
The Evens,
Shuggie Otis,
X-Ray Spex,
The Monks,
Dawn Penn,
Sexual Harrassment,
Gong,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Main Source,
Bob Dylan,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Derrick Morgan,
the Soft Cell,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Hashim,
Zero Boys,
Judy Mowatt,
Black Moon,
The Moleskins,
Scion,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
E-Dancer,
Sällskapet,
Eddi Front,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Drive Like Jehu,
Wings,
The Modern Lovers,
Lebanon Hanover,
Rakim,
the Slits,
The Litter,
The Detroit Cobras,
Cymande,
Second Layer,
D'Angelo,
John Cale,
In Retrospect,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Organ,
Skarface,
Arcadia,
the Fania All-Stars,
Fat Boys,
The Monochrome Set,
Minny Pops,
Bill Near,
The Smiths,
Jacques Brel,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Sly & The Family Stone,
the Germs,
Faust,
Rod Modell,
Spoonie Gee, Spoonie Gee, Spoonie Gee, Spoonie Gee.
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.