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 Madrid.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Index to the rap 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 The Buckinghams. All the underground hits.
All Echospace tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Black Bananas 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Crispy Ambulance record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sarah Menescal,
Peter and Kerry,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Cluster,
The Fugs,
Cymande,
Ornette Coleman,
Lou Reed,
Albert Ayler,
In Retrospect,
Main Source,
Yaz,
New Order,
Ultimate Spinach,
Byron Stingily,
Anthony Braxton,
Mandrill,
MC5,
Kas Product,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Moss Icon,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Knickerbockers,
Morten Harket,
Sister Nancy,
The Alarm Clocks,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Monks,
Carl Craig,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Tropical Tobacco,
Surgeon,
Eric Copeland,
Desert Stars,
Donald Byrd,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Young Marble Giants,
Wire,
Gang Gang Dance,
Radio Birdman,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Mission of Burma,
Barry Ungar,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Thompson Twins,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Marc Almond,
Robert Hood,
Laurel Aitken,
The Litter,
Nico,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Letta Mbulu,
Scientists,
Monolake,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Magma,
Faraquet,
Joey Negro,
the Fania All-Stars,
Glenn Branca, Glenn Branca, Glenn Branca, Glenn Branca.
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.