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 Egypt and from Manila.
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 1960 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 1977 at the first Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Bootsy Collins to the techno kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Youth Brigade. All the underground hits.
All the Association tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Magazine record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Blossom Toes record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Newcleus,
Aswad,
U.S. Maple,
Girls At Our Best!,
Fugazi,
The Skatalites,
Oblivians,
Jacob Miller,
Spoonie Gee,
Archie Shepp,
T.S.O.L.,
The Fire Engines,
The Neon Judgement,
Al Stewart,
The Wake,
Johnny Clarke,
Peter & Gordon,
Depeche Mode,
Ultra Naté,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Infiniti,
Livin' Joy,
Bobbi Humphrey,
New Age Steppers,
The Seeds,
The Divine Comedy,
the Bar-Kays,
Peter and Kerry,
Jerry's Kids,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Isaac Hayes,
The Detroit Cobras,
Chris Corsano,
PIL,
The Gun Club,
Kas Product,
Motorama,
Warren Ellis,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Carl Craig,
Juan Atkins,
Lyres,
Jawbox,
Fela Kuti,
Soft Machine,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Rites of Spring,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Groovy Waters,
Electric Prunes,
DNA,
Robert Hood,
Bootsy Collins,
These Immortal Souls,
Nik Kershaw,
Shoche,
Crooked Eye,
Dark Day,
Icehouse,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Freddie Wadling,
The Pretty Things,
The Happenings, The Happenings, The Happenings, The Happenings.
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.