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 Niger and from Seoul.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 AZ to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Unwound. All the underground hits.
All Drexciya tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Boogie Down Productions record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a London Community Gospel Choir record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bluetip,
DJ Sneak,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
The Dave Clark Five,
Bronski Beat,
Accadde A,
Deakin,
Michelle Simonal,
Johnny Clarke,
Inner City,
Bill Near,
The Smiths,
Jeff Mills,
Morten Harket,
Kas Product,
Sex Pistols,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Television,
Skarface,
Eric B and Rakim,
the Bar-Kays,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Silicon Teens,
cv313,
Public Enemy,
Slick Rick,
David Axelrod,
Susan Cadogan,
New York Dolls,
The Knickerbockers,
MDC,
Section 25,
Schoolly D,
Aural Exciters,
Camouflage,
Dawn Penn,
Con Funk Shun,
Fad Gadget,
the Association,
48th St. Collective,
Lee Hazlewood,
8 Eyed Spy,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Magazine,
JFA,
Thee Headcoats,
The Walker Brothers,
Ornette Coleman,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Supertramp,
Alton Ellis,
Andrew Hill,
Pierre Henry,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Human League,
Kayak,
Ossler,
Joe Smooth,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Radiohead,
Interpol,
Dual Sessions,
The Moody Blues,
The Angels of Light, The Angels of Light, The Angels of Light, The Angels of Light.
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.