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 Bhutan and from Madrid.
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 1963 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson to the techno 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 The Kinks. All the underground hits.
All Graham Central Station tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kerrie Biddell record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 guitar and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a These Immortal Souls record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
the Fania All-Stars,
the Slits,
Ralphi Rosario,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Soul Sonic Force,
Half Japanese,
Wings,
Sister Nancy,
Joy Division,
Glenn Branca,
Trumans Water,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Royal Trux,
The Divine Comedy,
Scientists,
Crispy Ambulance,
Pantytec,
Sparks,
Jeff Mills,
The Slackers,
Echospace,
Crime,
Pylon,
ABC,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Mo-Dettes,
Crooked Eye,
Jacques Brel,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Ossler,
Grauzone,
Pharoah Sanders,
Shuggie Otis,
Dave Gahan,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Fatback Band,
H. Thieme,
Prince Buster,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Stooges,
The Monks,
Donny Hathaway,
Gong,
The Birthday Party,
Ten City,
Big Daddy Kane,
Brick,
Dorothy Ashby,
JFA,
Idris Muhammad,
Harry Pussy,
Marmalade,
Ronnie Foster,
Scan 7,
Stiv Bators,
The Angels of Light,
Aaron Thompson,
Minnie Riperton,
MDC,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Piero Umiliani, Piero Umiliani, Piero Umiliani, Piero Umiliani.
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.