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 Libya and from Portland.
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 Woodstock and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Ultimate Spinach to the disco kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Fat Boys. All the underground hits.
All Visage tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pulsallama record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 harpsichord and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Minnie Riperton record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rotary Connection,
Aural Exciters,
Television Personalities,
Organ,
Minnie Riperton,
Bronski Beat,
Ituana,
The Alarm Clocks,
Ronan,
Josef K,
Nirvana,
Kerrie Biddell,
Anthony Braxton,
Bang On A Can,
Janne Schatter,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Michelle Simonal,
Delta 5,
Kaleidoscope,
Deadbeat,
Section 25,
a-ha,
The Neon Judgement,
Fatback Band,
John Cale,
Minor Threat,
The Mojo Men,
Nation of Ulysses,
Bauhaus,
Rosa Yemen,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Trumans Water,
Ronnie Foster,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Pantaleimon,
Bluetip,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Yazoo,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
James Chance & The Contortions,
DNA,
Nik Kershaw,
the Sonics,
The Cramps,
Monks,
The Count Five,
Joyce Sims,
Juan Atkins,
The Walker Brothers,
Wasted Youth,
The Fire Engines,
Swell Maps,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Drexciya,
E-Dancer,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Carl Craig, Carl Craig, Carl Craig, Carl Craig.
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.