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 Belize and from Bremen.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 güiro 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 Livin' Joy to the rock kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Todd Rundgren. All the underground hits.
All June of 44 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Leonard Cohen record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Reuben Wilson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Sonics,
Eric Copeland,
Little Man,
Henry Cow,
Pet Shop Boys,
Jacob Miller,
Section 25,
Oneida,
Aaron Thompson,
Blossom Toes,
Lucky Dragons,
Prince Buster,
Gichy Dan,
Scratch Acid,
Brass Construction,
Tropical Tobacco,
The Neon Judgement,
John Foxx,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Surgeon,
the Soft Cell,
The Stooges,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Wake,
The Smiths,
Colin Newman,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Fugazi,
Cameo,
The Birthday Party,
The Fall,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Talk Talk,
Vainqueur,
Eve St. Jones,
Angry Samoans,
World's Most,
Pierre Henry,
Terry Callier,
The Busters,
Dorothy Ashby,
Bobby Sherman,
Public Enemy,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Seeds,
Soft Cell,
Gastr Del Sol,
Cybotron,
Neil Young,
Fad Gadget,
John Cale,
Shoche,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Kerri Chandler,
The Fortunes,
The Knickerbockers,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Bronski Beat,
Tres Demented,
The Slackers,
Bootsy Collins, Bootsy Collins, Bootsy Collins, Bootsy Collins.
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.