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 Chad and from Houston.
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 1965 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 808 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 Thee Headcoats to the rap 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 Rod Modell. All the underground hits.
All Brothers Johnson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rod Modell record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Selecter record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Brass Construction,
The Beau Brummels,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
A Certain Ratio,
Bob Dylan,
Eurythmics,
DJ Style,
Judy Mowatt,
Soft Machine,
John Foxx,
Tropical Tobacco,
Roy Ayers,
Johnny Clarke,
The Human League,
Susan Cadogan,
Neil Young,
Gabor Szabo,
Blancmange,
The Motions,
Echospace,
Marcia Griffiths,
Sarah Menescal,
Harmonia,
Traffic Nightmare,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Buckinghams,
Eric Dolphy,
The Alarm Clocks,
Unrelated Segments,
The Moody Blues,
Crash Course in Science,
The Mojo Men,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Prince Buster,
Cameo,
Agitation Free,
The Birthday Party,
Slave,
Jeff Mills,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Parry Music,
The Shadows of Knight,
Curtis Mayfield,
Yaz,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Max Romeo,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Leaves,
Rekid,
Suicide,
Mad Mike,
T. Rex,
Silicon Teens,
Subhumans,
Hashim,
Kaleidoscope,
The Standells,
One Last Wish,
Kayak,
Bobby Byrd,
Rufus Thomas,
Excepter,
Young Marble Giants, Young Marble Giants, Young Marble Giants, Young Marble Giants.
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.