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 Malawi and from Toronto.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Quando Quango to the jazz 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 Section 25. All the underground hits.
All Little Man tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Khruangbin record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 marimba and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Steve Hackett record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Fire Engines,
Sonny Sharrock,
Marshall Jefferson,
Bob Dylan,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Moby Grape,
Nils Olav,
Harmonia,
Traffic Nightmare,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Aural Exciters,
The Golliwogs,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Kurtis Blow,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Altered Images,
Rotary Connection,
Skriet,
Gang Starr,
a-ha,
Echospace,
Jerry's Kids,
the Sonics,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Happenings,
The Moleskins,
China Crisis,
Von Mondo,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Gong,
Q and Not U,
Boogie Down Productions,
Ituana,
Yaz,
Little Man,
Rosa Yemen,
Suburban Knight,
Joensuu 1685,
Grandmaster Flash,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Camberwell Now,
Dorothy Ashby,
Erasure,
The Blues Magoos,
Crime,
Shuggie Otis,
Jimmy McGriff,
Mantronix,
Monks,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Tres Demented,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Nick Fraelich,
Crash Course in Science,
Roger Hodgson,
Bush Tetras,
The Modern Lovers,
Ash Ra Tempel,
The Litter,
Television Personalities,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Joe Smooth,
Henry Cow, Henry Cow, Henry Cow, Henry Cow.
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.