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 Samoa and from Bologna.
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 1967 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 1978 at the first Visage practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Derrick May to the grime kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Jimmy McGriff. All the underground hits.
All Bush Tetras tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every EPMD record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a 8 Eyed Spy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Brass Construction,
June Days,
Marine Girls,
The Martian,
Althea and Donna,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Traffic Nightmare,
Peter and Kerry,
Adolescents,
David Bowie,
Suburban Knight,
A Certain Ratio,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Terry Callier,
Lucky Dragons,
Jacques Brel,
Camberwell Now,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Can,
Crispian St. Peters,
Aswad,
Pulsallama,
Shoche,
Sonic Youth,
Deakin,
Massinfluence,
Sister Nancy,
Jeff Lynne,
Buzzcocks,
Anakelly,
Sparks,
Swans,
The Electric Prunes,
Darondo,
Model 500,
Animal Collective,
Altered Images,
Quando Quango,
Johnny Osbourne,
Hoover,
Arab on Radar,
Bill Wells,
Grauzone,
Rotary Connection,
Wally Richardson,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
U.S. Maple,
The Raincoats,
The Sound,
Janne Schatter,
Television,
Whodini,
Alphaville,
Barry Ungar,
Scan 7,
Jandek,
Eric Dolphy,
Harry Pussy,
Aural Exciters,
Moby Grape,
Half Japanese, Half Japanese, Half Japanese, Half Japanese.
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.