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 Denmark and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1966 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Howard Jones to the rap kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Pere Ubu. All the underground hits.
All UT tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Au Pairs record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Hardrive record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
The Gap Band,
Spandau Ballet,
Agitation Free,
Trumans Water,
The Names,
Roxy Music,
Mark Hollis,
Technova,
Inner City,
Adolescents,
The Dirtbombs,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Alison Limerick,
Warren Ellis,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Can,
Drexciya,
Gregory Isaacs,
Siglo XX,
The Invisible,
Joy Division,
Index,
New Age Steppers,
Aural Exciters,
Deadbeat,
Fad Gadget,
The Shadows of Knight,
Brass Construction,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Man Eating Sloth,
Bobby Byrd,
Graham Central Station,
Sällskapet,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Ohio Players,
the Soft Cell,
Whodini,
Bobby Sherman,
Patti Smith,
Parry Music,
Big Daddy Kane,
Y Pants,
Nils Olav,
Lalo Schifrin,
The Standells,
Cheater Slicks,
The Pop Group,
Mad Mike,
The Fall,
Rekid,
Susan Cadogan,
Mars,
The Busters,
Underground Resistance,
The Sound,
Grandmaster Flash,
Amazonics,
Scientists,
Tomorrow,
Lakeside,
Mandrill, Mandrill, Mandrill, Mandrill.
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.