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 Delhi.
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 1965 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 B.T. Express to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Kas Product. All the underground hits.
All Alton Ellis tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Vaughan Mason & Crew record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 808 and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nation of Ulysses record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Cramps,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Velvet Underground,
Derrick Morgan,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Stiv Bators,
The Electric Prunes,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Fear,
Slick Rick,
Boz Scaggs,
The Neon Judgement,
Lungfish,
Guru Guru,
The Raincoats,
Mars,
Boogie Down Productions,
Kurtis Blow,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Chris Corsano,
The Fugs,
Thompson Twins,
Alphaville,
Porter Ricks,
Trumans Water,
Eric Dolphy,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
R.M.O.,
Pussy Galore,
The Kinks,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
L. Decosne,
Dawn Penn,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Q65,
In Retrospect,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Donald Byrd,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Suburban Knight,
Slave,
Young Marble Giants,
John Cale,
DNA,
Pulsallama,
The Dead C,
Yellowson,
Robert Wyatt,
The Dirtbombs,
Pole,
Absolute Body Control,
Bootsy Collins,
Colin Newman,
FM Einheit,
Rakim,
Donny Hathaway,
Lightning Bolt,
The Modern Lovers,
Darondo,
Judy Mowatt,
Technova, Technova, Technova, Technova.
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.