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 Kuwait 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 1967 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Seoul.
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 Wire practice in a loft in Watford.
I was working on the rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Intrusion to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Arcadia. All the underground hits.
All KRS-One tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Massinfluence 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kaleidoscope record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Von Mondo,
Q and Not U,
The United States of America,
X-101,
Johnny Clarke,
These Immortal Souls,
The Red Krayola,
Erasure,
Flamin' Groovies,
Symarip,
Clear Light,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Lakeside,
Fatback Band,
The Real Kids,
Tim Buckley,
Zapp,
Alphaville,
Bootsy Collins,
Au Pairs,
The Fuzztones,
Girls At Our Best!,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Idris Muhammad,
Marvin Gaye,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Hasil Adkins,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Quadrant,
Make Up,
The Standells,
Funky Four + One,
Echospace,
Massinfluence,
Shoche,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Freddie Wadling,
Traffic Nightmare,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Aaron Thompson,
Cymande,
Terry Callier,
The Associates,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
A Certain Ratio,
The Fire Engines,
ABC,
Spoonie Gee,
Bobby Sherman,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Cameo,
Kenny Larkin,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Robert Hood,
Johnny Osbourne,
Lee Hazlewood,
Guru Guru,
The Five Americans,
Glenn Branca,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Sun Ra, Sun Ra, Sun Ra, Sun Ra.
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.