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 Nigeria and from Madrid.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Rotary Connection to the dance 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 Traffic Nightmare. All the underground hits.
All Avey Tare tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Juan Atkins record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Vaughan Mason & Crew record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Todd Rundgren,
Lightning Bolt,
Kool Moe Dee,
Porter Ricks,
Skarface,
The Velvet Underground,
Morten Harket,
Babytalk,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The Neon Judgement,
PIL,
Severed Heads,
Byron Stingily,
Buzzcocks,
Johnny Osbourne,
Tubeway Army,
Spoonie Gee,
Sister Nancy,
Derrick Morgan,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Surgeon,
The Real Kids,
Leonard Cohen,
Essential Logic,
Quando Quango,
DJ Style,
The Raincoats,
The Golliwogs,
Qualms,
LL Cool J,
Stockholm Monsters,
Rosa Yemen,
Mary Jane Girls,
D'Angelo,
Desert Stars,
These Immortal Souls,
Monolake,
Funky Four + One,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Negative Approach,
10cc,
Technova,
Dawn Penn,
Barbara Tucker,
Soft Machine,
Beasts of Bourbon,
The Victims,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Angry Samoans,
Echospace,
Nico,
Grandmaster Flash,
Aloha Tigers,
Wings,
The Gap Band,
The Searchers,
Jeff Mills,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Radiohead,
Yellowson, Yellowson, Yellowson, Yellowson.
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.