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 Korea South and from Spokane.
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 1961 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Tommy Roe to the punk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Suburban Knight. All the underground hits.
All Yaz tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Letta Mbulu record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 808 and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Busters record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Raincoats,
Bad Manners,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Black Flag,
Black Bananas,
the Germs,
The Birthday Party,
Eli Mardock,
Suburban Knight,
Stockholm Monsters,
Sun City Girls,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Lalo Schifrin,
Bluetip,
The Gories,
Underground Resistance,
Marcia Griffiths,
Minnie Riperton,
The Standells,
Lakeside,
the Fania All-Stars,
The American Breed,
Angry Samoans,
the Sonics,
Average White Band,
Roxy Music,
Harmonia,
Sugar Minott,
Los Fastidios,
Eden Ahbez,
Trumans Water,
Pere Ubu,
Swans,
The Last Poets,
Whodini,
Oneida,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Jawbox,
Ralphi Rosario,
Rod Modell,
The Shadows of Knight,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Goldenarms,
Quadrant,
Lou Christie,
Depeche Mode,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Zero Boys,
Echospace,
Duran Duran,
Judy Mowatt,
Faraquet,
Marine Girls,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Infiniti,
Young Marble Giants,
Erasure,
The Dead C,
Henry Cow, Henry Cow, Henry Cow, Henry Cow.
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.