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 Montenegro and from Mexico City.
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 Paris and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 Wire practice in a loft in Watford.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 Lyres to the punk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Country Teasers. All the underground hits.
All DJ Style tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Flamin' Groovies 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Derrick May record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Brothers Johnson,
Kayak,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
The Black Dice,
Don Cherry,
Heaven 17,
MDC,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Lungfish,
Scrapy,
Sugar Minott,
the Swans,
Howard Jones,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Toni Rubio,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Ponytail,
Mars,
Kenny Larkin,
The Zeros,
Robert Wyatt,
Hardrive,
Quadrant,
Bill Near,
The Durutti Column,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
The Fire Engines,
Unwound,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Severed Heads,
the Human League,
The Divine Comedy,
Swell Maps,
Bob Dylan,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Popol Vuh,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Kerrie Biddell,
Blake Baxter,
James White and The Blacks,
The American Breed,
Gerry Rafferty,
The Moleskins,
The Slits,
Ituana,
Max Romeo,
the Fania All-Stars,
Nils Olav,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Mark Hollis,
Wally Richardson,
Soulsonic Force,
Peter & Gordon,
Jerry's Kids,
Dorothy Ashby,
Crooked Eye,
8 Eyed Spy,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Clear Light,
Jacques Brel, Jacques Brel, Jacques Brel, Jacques Brel.
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.