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 Sri Lanka and from Tehran.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 1977 at the first Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the organ 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 Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra to the grunge kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Brand Nubian. All the underground hits.
All Panda Bear tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Heavy D & The Boyz record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Man Parrish,
Can,
Swans,
Anakelly,
Cluster,
Bizarre Inc.,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Velvet Underground,
the Germs,
Babytalk,
Eve St. Jones,
Ornette Coleman,
Alphaville,
a-ha,
Franke,
cv313,
X-101,
L. Decosne,
Depeche Mode,
The Doobie Brothers,
Cal Tjader,
New Age Steppers,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Visage,
Soft Machine,
The J.B.'s,
Stiv Bators,
The United States of America,
The Monks,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Mantronix,
Agitation Free,
T. Rex,
The Evens,
Half Japanese,
Harmonia,
In Retrospect,
Danielle Patucci,
Slick Rick,
It's A Beautiful Day,
CMW,
Eli Mardock,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Zeros,
Masters at Work,
Ituana,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Jawbox,
Jeff Mills,
Kerrie Biddell,
Hardrive,
Grey Daturas,
Yazoo,
Dual Sessions,
Chrome,
The Detroit Cobras,
This Heat,
Adolescents,
Radiopuhelimet,
Big Daddy Kane, Big Daddy Kane, Big Daddy Kane, Big Daddy Kane.
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.