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 Uganda and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 sitar 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 Nik Kershaw to the electroclash 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 Marmalade. All the underground hits.
All Underground Resistance tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rakim 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Yellowson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Red Krayola,
The Blackbyrds,
the Germs,
The Kinks,
Negative Approach,
the Association,
Ronnie Foster,
Aloha Tigers,
Groovy Waters,
Mantronix,
Flash Fearless,
The Monks,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Joyce Sims,
Josef K,
Eurythmics,
The Searchers,
The Residents,
The Beau Brummels,
Soft Machine,
Crime,
Quadrant,
Icehouse,
Moss Icon,
Technova,
Outsiders,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Thee Headcoats,
Desert Stars,
the Sonics,
Make Up,
Danielle Patucci,
Fort Wilson Riot,
The Gap Band,
Man Eating Sloth,
Grey Daturas,
OOIOO,
Skarface,
Radiopuhelimet,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Godley & Creme,
Bobby Sherman,
Terry Callier,
Neil Young,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Arcadia,
Chris Corsano,
Ralphi Rosario,
Newcleus,
Tears for Fears,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The Star Department,
the Human League,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Jimmy McGriff,
The Pretty Things,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Rod Modell,
Duran Duran,
The Standells,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Names,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Erasure,
The Stooges, The Stooges, The Stooges, The Stooges.
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.