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 Tonga and from London.
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 1964 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Bad Manners to the techno 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 It's A Beautiful Day. All the underground hits.
All Black Bananas tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Larry & the Blue Notes record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 snare and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Prince Buster 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?
The Wake,
Sixth Finger,
Ten City,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Minutemen,
Sun City Girls,
Colin Newman,
The Mojo Men,
Alison Limerick,
Sonny Sharrock,
Moby Grape,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Detroit Cobras,
Reagan Youth,
Carl Craig,
Half Japanese,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Smoke,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
These Immortal Souls,
Jawbox,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Yazoo,
X-102,
Parry Music,
Main Source,
New York Dolls,
Duran Duran,
Matthew Bourne,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Beau Brummels,
China Crisis,
Don Cherry,
The Leaves,
Country Teasers,
DJ Style,
Anthony Braxton,
48th St. Collective,
The Happenings,
Tim Buckley,
The Monks,
Flamin' Groovies,
Ornette Coleman,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
The Move,
Ice-T,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
H. Thieme,
The Misunderstood,
The Dirtbombs,
The Seeds,
Deakin,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Frankie Knuckles,
Bad Manners,
Tubeway Army,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Gastr Del Sol,
UT,
Brick,
Traffic Nightmare,
Darondo, Darondo, Darondo, Darondo.
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.