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 Jamaica and from Manila.
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 1966 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 1975 at the first Throbbing Gristle practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the 808 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 Derrick Morgan to the grime kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Soul II Soul. All the underground hits.
All The Royal Family And The Poor tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every James White and The Blacks 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Fire Engines record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Camouflage,
Shoche,
Gang of Four,
Letta Mbulu,
Jeff Mills,
Bobby Byrd,
Pierre Henry,
Make Up,
Skarface,
The Neon Judgement,
Scion,
Joe Smooth,
Scrapy,
New Age Steppers,
Sparks,
Man Eating Sloth,
Sun Ra,
Lindisfarne,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
World's Most,
Rufus Thomas,
Cabaret Voltaire,
June Days,
The Dead C,
Bluetip,
Eurythmics,
Stiv Bators,
The Standells,
Marine Girls,
The Star Department,
Gerry Rafferty,
Joensuu 1685,
The Techniques,
Altered Images,
Soul II Soul,
Nils Olav,
Sugar Minott,
Delon & Dalcan,
The Golliwogs,
Harry Pussy,
The Monks,
FM Einheit,
Jacques Brel,
Fugazi,
Maurizio,
Dennis Brown,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Gories,
Crispian St. Peters,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
CMW,
Alice Coltrane,
The Red Krayola,
China Crisis,
Animal Collective,
Andrew Hill,
Todd Terry,
The Sound,
Neil Young,
Sam Rivers,
Arab on Radar,
Colin Newman,
Dark Day, Dark Day, Dark Day, Dark Day.
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.