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 Taiwan and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1962 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 synthesizer 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 Ken Boothe to the grunge 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 Grass Roots. All the underground hits.
All the Slits tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every FM Einheit 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sam Rivers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Colin Newman,
Brick,
Fat Boys,
ABBA,
Dorothy Ashby,
F. McDonald,
Jimmy McGriff,
The Modern Lovers,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Outsiders,
Niagra,
The Leaves,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Flesh Eaters,
Black Pus,
Lucky Dragons,
The Electric Prunes,
Bob Dylan,
Carl Craig,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
James White and The Blacks,
Y Pants,
Rapeman,
Banda Bassotti,
Gil Scott Heron,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Prince Buster,
Bluetip,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Rotary Connection,
Ornette Coleman,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Glenn Branca,
The Count Five,
A Certain Ratio,
The Gun Club,
Oblivians,
Marc Almond,
The Music Machine,
Soulsonic Force,
Wally Richardson,
the Fania All-Stars,
Steve Hackett,
June of 44,
Panda Bear,
Aaron Thompson,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Wasted Youth,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
The Dirtbombs,
Goldenarms,
The Grass Roots,
Reagan Youth,
Altered Images,
Nation of Ulysses,
Skriet,
Faust,
Patti Smith,
The Smoke,
L. Decosne,
Graham Central Station, Graham Central Station, Graham Central Station, Graham Central Station.
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.