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 Guinea-Bissau and from Sao Paulo.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 Buzzcocks practice in a loft in Bolton.
I was working on the marimba 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 Flamin' Groovies to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Grauzone. All the underground hits.
All The Offenders tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Chris Corsano 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 '90s.
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 Ash Ra Tempel record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Roy Ayers,
The Vogues,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Busters,
Cybotron,
Mandrill,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Slits,
Patti Smith,
Electric Prunes,
Hot Snakes,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Amon Düül,
DNA,
The Cure,
Young Marble Giants,
Interpol,
Gang of Four,
Ossler,
F. McDonald,
The Music Machine,
E-Dancer,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Archie Shepp,
Mary Jane Girls,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Amazonics,
David Bowie,
Zapp,
EPMD,
Sonny Sharrock,
Theoretical Girls,
Wasted Youth,
Ronan,
Spandau Ballet,
Lou Christie,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Beau Brummels,
Jandek,
Heaven 17,
Dead Boys,
Kas Product,
Sonic Youth,
The Gap Band,
Depeche Mode,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Glambeats Corp.,
Michelle Simonal,
The United States of America,
The Buckinghams,
Big Daddy Kane,
Kerrie Biddell,
Dennis Brown,
Skarface,
Q and Not U,
Eden Ahbez,
Icehouse,
The Toasters,
Ultra Naté,
The Searchers,
Los Fastidios,
Gang Starr,
Matthew Halsall,
Panda Bear, Panda Bear, Panda Bear, Panda Bear.
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.