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 East Timor and from Tokyo.
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 1969 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 linndrum 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 Godley & Creme to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Rod Modell. All the underground hits.
All Moss Icon tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Excepter record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Happenings record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Pet Shop Boys,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Gang of Four,
Sight & Sound,
Tropical Tobacco,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Joe Finger,
The Mummies,
Yazoo,
Make Up,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Pulsallama,
Ludus,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Nas,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Adolescents,
Jeff Mills,
Leonard Cohen,
Shuggie Otis,
Kevin Saunderson,
Deakin,
Rhythm & Sound,
Ultimate Spinach,
Interpol,
Fela Kuti,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Slits,
Jimmy McGriff,
Ponytail,
Bang On A Can,
Hashim,
Iggy Pop,
Mars,
Jeff Lynne,
H. Thieme,
Grauzone,
Robert Wyatt,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Parry Music,
Jandek,
In Retrospect,
Funkadelic,
Television Personalities,
Andrew Hill,
Harmonia,
John Cale,
The Moleskins,
Delon & Dalcan,
Camberwell Now,
The Music Machine,
Sonny Sharrock,
Popol Vuh,
D'Angelo,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Arthur Verocai,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Bad Manners,
Matthew Halsall, Matthew Halsall, Matthew Halsall, Matthew Halsall.
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.