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 Venezuela and from Sao Paulo.
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 1960 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Woodstock.
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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Judy Mowatt to the funk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Mad Mike. All the underground hits.
All Maurizio tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jeru the Damaja record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Cameo record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kas Product,
Tom Boy,
Judy Mowatt,
Connie Case,
T.S.O.L.,
The Barracudas,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Grass Roots,
Sister Nancy,
Cluster,
The Seeds,
Roger Hodgson,
Scion,
EPMD,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
China Crisis,
Traffic Nightmare,
R.M.O.,
Black Sheep,
Cybotron,
Minor Threat,
Wasted Youth,
Mad Mike,
Pharoah Sanders,
Jesper Dahlback,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Steve Hackett,
Yazoo,
the Bar-Kays,
Ossler,
Whodini,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Buzzcocks,
Scientists,
Jimmy McGriff,
Joy Division,
Fad Gadget,
Chris & Cosey,
Lindisfarne,
Sexual Harrassment,
Kevin Saunderson,
The Detroit Cobras,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Stetsasonic,
U.S. Maple,
Crash Course in Science,
The Sound,
Spoonie Gee,
Alton Ellis,
Bauhaus,
Supertramp,
Susan Cadogan,
Jacob Miller,
Slick Rick,
Bob Dylan,
Tommy Roe,
Crispian St. Peters,
Negative Approach,
Moss Icon,
Index,
The Star Department,
Blancmange,
Porter Ricks,
The Buckinghams,
Colin Newman, Colin Newman, Colin Newman, Colin Newman.
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.