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 Seychelles and from Manchester.
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 Beijing and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the organ 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 Joe Smooth to the funk 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 Stiv Bators. All the underground hits.
All Avey Tare tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Q65 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Popol Vuh,
Icehouse,
The Saints,
Nils Olav,
In Retrospect,
Brand Nubian,
The Count Five,
Gichy Dan,
Idris Muhammad,
Whodini,
The Happenings,
Deadbeat,
Livin' Joy,
Deepchord,
Jandek,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Dave Clark Five,
U.S. Maple,
Urselle,
The Stooges,
Radiohead,
Magma,
Country Teasers,
JFA,
Freddie Wadling,
Nick Fraelich,
the Sonics,
Motorama,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Stiv Bators,
Television Personalities,
Reagan Youth,
D'Angelo,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Names,
F. McDonald,
Soul II Soul,
The Index,
Buzzcocks,
Brick,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Simply Red,
Charles Mingus,
Barbara Tucker,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Girls At Our Best!,
Fatback Band,
Flipper,
Severed Heads,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Absolute Body Control,
The Neon Judgement,
The Evens,
Robert Görl,
Peter & Gordon,
Morten Harket,
The Young Rascals,
T. Rex,
Kerrie Biddell,
Black Moon,
Banda Bassotti,
Yazoo, Yazoo, Yazoo, Yazoo.
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.