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 Benin and from Mumbai.
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 Salvador and Lille.
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 1976 at the first Buzzcocks practice in a loft in Bolton.
I was working on the theremin 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 Kool G Rap & DJ Polo to the rap kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Angels of Light & Akron/Family. All the underground hits.
All Spoonie Gee tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Brick 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 rhodes and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Cybotron record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Piero Umiliani,
Cameo,
Nation of Ulysses,
Bobby Sherman,
AZ,
Ronnie Foster,
Black Moon,
Absolute Body Control,
Adolescents,
Babytalk,
Thee Headcoats,
Althea and Donna,
Kool Moe Dee,
The Techniques,
8 Eyed Spy,
Massinfluence,
Max Romeo,
Man Parrish,
Monks,
Negative Approach,
Roger Hodgson,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Soul Sonic Force,
Desert Stars,
Con Funk Shun,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Donny Hathaway,
Lebanon Hanover,
Essential Logic,
The Red Krayola,
Japan,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
The Dave Clark Five,
Make Up,
Patti Smith,
Todd Terry,
Black Pus,
The Cramps,
Prince Buster,
The Moleskins,
Dead Boys,
Skaos,
The Walker Brothers,
Gichy Dan,
Byron Stingily,
Anthony Braxton,
Gabor Szabo,
Funky Four + One,
K-Klass,
Henry Cow,
Unwound,
The Skatalites,
Jacques Brel,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Marmalade,
Pere Ubu,
The United States of America,
Anakelly,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Graham Central Station,
The Sonics,
Sister Nancy, Sister Nancy, Sister Nancy, Sister Nancy.
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.