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 Fiji and from Copenhagen.
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 1967 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Salvador.
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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Steve Hackett to the techno kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Fatback Band. All the underground hits.
All Bizarre Inc. tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Marmalade record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 an organ and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jeff Lynne record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Traffic Nightmare,
Audionom,
Camouflage,
Nirvana,
Man Eating Sloth,
Circle Jerks,
These Immortal Souls,
Dark Day,
The Smiths,
Groovy Waters,
The Cowsills,
Rekid,
Kerri Chandler,
Iggy Pop,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Absolute Body Control,
Simply Red,
John Holt,
Deepchord,
B.T. Express,
Rotary Connection,
John Cale,
Joyce Sims,
Alphaville,
Khruangbin,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Velvet Underground,
The Star Department,
Visage,
Morten Harket,
The Misunderstood,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Technova,
The Raincoats,
The Golliwogs,
Godley & Creme,
World's Most,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Oneida,
The Durutti Column,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Television,
The Skatalites,
The Alarm Clocks,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Das Ding,
Johnny Clarke,
the Soft Cell,
Matthew Halsall,
10cc,
Lalo Schifrin,
Amazonics,
Sound Behaviour,
Man Parrish,
Wolf Eyes,
The Remains,
Boz Scaggs,
Sugar Minott,
Janne Schatter,
Rapeman,
Cheater Slicks, Cheater Slicks, Cheater Slicks, Cheater Slicks.
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.