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 Maldives and from Columbus.
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 1967 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 1976 at the first Wire practice in a loft in Watford.
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 Chris Corsano to the dance kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Fifty Foot Hose. All the underground hits.
All Graham Central Station tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Little Man record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ludus record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Magazine,
Fat Boys,
Marmalade,
Drexciya,
Howard Jones,
Nick Fraelich,
Thee Headcoats,
Delta 5,
Avey Tare,
Audionom,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Negative Approach,
Hot Snakes,
Cecil Taylor,
Ossler,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Pierre Henry,
Andrew Hill,
Camouflage,
The Techniques,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Nas,
June of 44,
Henry Cow,
Matthew Halsall,
Mandrill,
The Fuzztones,
a-ha,
The Saints,
Adolescents,
Yusef Lateef,
Brass Construction,
Trumans Water,
Young Marble Giants,
Crime,
The Invisible,
The Velvet Underground,
Skaos,
cv313,
The Happenings,
The Durutti Column,
The Black Dice,
The Neon Judgement,
Minny Pops,
LL Cool J,
Q and Not U,
The Human League,
Mad Mike,
Y Pants,
Eve St. Jones,
T.S.O.L.,
Kayak,
Nik Kershaw,
The Skatalites,
EPMD,
The Pop Group,
Roy Ayers,
Motorama,
Basic Channel,
Sixth Finger,
Bootsy Collins,
Gong,
Minutemen, Minutemen, Minutemen, Minutemen.
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.