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 Namibia and from Beijing.
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 1962 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Outsiders to the disco kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Pylon. All the underground hits.
All Blake Baxter tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every FM Einheit record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 sitar and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Fall,
Soft Machine,
the Sonics,
Marc Almond,
Drexciya,
Groovy Waters,
Excepter,
Black Moon,
Cecil Taylor,
Grey Daturas,
Massinfluence,
Donny Hathaway,
Charles Mingus,
Cluster,
Camberwell Now,
Cheater Slicks,
The Litter,
Slave,
The American Breed,
The Smoke,
Bronski Beat,
Yaz,
Q65,
Sonic Youth,
Television Personalities,
Johnny Clarke,
Black Sheep,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
The Skatalites,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Public Image Ltd.,
John Cale,
Amon Düül,
Scion,
Reagan Youth,
the Soft Cell,
Mandrill,
the Slits,
Saccharine Trust,
The Seeds,
Beasts of Bourbon,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Symarip,
Glambeats Corp.,
Bush Tetras,
Rites of Spring,
Khruangbin,
The Monochrome Set,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Ituana,
Black Bananas,
Negative Approach,
Whodini,
Organ,
Alice Coltrane,
Bobby Womack,
Lucky Dragons,
Yusef Lateef,
Royal Trux,
Young Marble Giants,
the Normal,
Flamin' Groovies, Flamin' Groovies, Flamin' Groovies, Flamin' Groovies.
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.