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 Oman and from Bologna.
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 1963 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
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 Soul Sonic Force 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 Joe Smooth. All the underground hits.
All A Certain Ratio tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Dark Day record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 güiro and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nas record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sex Pistols,
Can,
Index,
Marc Almond,
Easy Going,
Black Sheep,
JFA,
Mad Mike,
Robert Görl,
The Leaves,
Arab on Radar,
Bill Near,
Godley & Creme,
Ultra Naté,
Camberwell Now,
Sister Nancy,
Kas Product,
Sam Rivers,
Essential Logic,
Monks,
Agitation Free,
Procol Harum,
Basic Channel,
The Gun Club,
FM Einheit,
The Blues Magoos,
DNA,
Letta Mbulu,
Deakin,
The Gap Band,
Delta 5,
Mary Jane Girls,
Erasure,
Juan Atkins,
Cal Tjader,
PIL,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Sugar Minott,
Lebanon Hanover,
Funkadelic,
The Electric Prunes,
Girls At Our Best!,
The Moleskins,
Eli Mardock,
Dennis Brown,
Nation of Ulysses,
Davy DMX,
The Raincoats,
Jawbox,
Kaleidoscope,
Smog,
Bobby Womack,
Television,
Radiohead,
Harmonia,
James White and The Blacks,
Black Pus,
The Real Kids,
Crispy Ambulance,
The Music Machine,
Derrick May,
Pere Ubu,
Joe Finger, Joe Finger, Joe Finger, Joe Finger.
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.