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 Syria and from Winnipeg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1963 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Spokane.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Beasts of Bourbon to the crunk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 June Days. All the underground hits.
All Gil Scott Heron tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an organ and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Sonics record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lalann,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Bluetip,
Prince Buster,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Robert Hood,
Oblivians,
Altered Images,
Lakeside,
Crispy Ambulance,
The Index,
Radiopuhelimet,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Junior Murvin,
Khruangbin,
Nirvana,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Amazonics,
The Busters,
Eric B and Rakim,
David Axelrod,
Blancmange,
Nation of Ulysses,
Laurel Aitken,
The Walker Brothers,
Patti Smith,
X-101,
the Slits,
Ludus,
Can,
Malaria!,
Mo-Dettes,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Spoonie Gee,
Cybotron,
Dorothy Ashby,
Ken Boothe,
The Birthday Party,
Massinfluence,
Pierre Henry,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Flipper,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Selecter,
Index,
Wasted Youth,
Brothers Johnson,
Bauhaus,
Quadrant,
Wire,
The Gories,
Soul II Soul,
Minny Pops,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Zapp,
the Germs,
Magma,
Charles Mingus,
F. McDonald,
ABBA,
This Heat,
Livin' Joy,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Bad Manners, Bad Manners, Bad Manners, Bad Manners.
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.