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 Accra.
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 1968 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Portland.
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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Sex Pistols to the rock kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Liliput. All the underground hits.
All Henry Cow tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Television 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Grandmaster Flash record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Brand Nubian,
Lyres,
Y Pants,
Piero Umiliani,
Marcia Griffiths,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Section 25,
Gang Starr,
X-Ray Spex,
Masters at Work,
Marine Girls,
Junior Murvin,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
The Standells,
The Young Rascals,
Scott Walker,
10cc,
Depeche Mode,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
CMW,
Swell Maps,
The Moleskins,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Zapp,
Bizarre Inc.,
Delta 5,
Prince Buster,
MC5,
The Motions,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Ronan,
The Real Kids,
Cymande,
Nico,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Vogues,
Joe Smooth,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Scratch Acid,
Jawbox,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Interpol,
Massinfluence,
The Barracudas,
Amon Düül II,
The Walker Brothers,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Radiopuhelimet,
Royal Trux,
Quando Quango,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Mantronix,
Mad Mike,
Marshall Jefferson,
The Dead C,
Joey Negro,
Charles Mingus,
The Zeros, The Zeros, The Zeros, The Zeros.
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.