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 South Sudan and from Manchester.
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 1964 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1977 at the first Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Tubeway Army to the punk kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Skatalites. All the underground hits.
All Ronnie Foster tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every X-101 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 a synthesizer and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a JFA record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Roxette,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Dave Gahan,
China Crisis,
Sarah Menescal,
Wire,
Underground Resistance,
Swans,
Groovy Waters,
The Evens,
Swell Maps,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Sixth Finger,
David Bowie,
The Birthday Party,
Minnie Riperton,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Niagra,
The Kinks,
Rhythm & Sound,
Black Moon,
Y Pants,
Yaz,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Jerry's Kids,
Pagans,
David Axelrod,
Sam Rivers,
The American Breed,
Fugazi,
The Last Poets,
Stiv Bators,
Lucky Dragons,
Alton Ellis,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Frankie Knuckles,
Public Enemy,
Tom Boy,
Agent Orange,
Magma,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Arcadia,
Stetsasonic,
The Mummies,
Ronan,
Q and Not U,
Thompson Twins,
Lou Christie,
Zapp,
the Normal,
The Fire Engines,
Ultra Naté,
The Neon Judgement,
Godley & Creme,
Barbara Tucker,
The Vogues,
Man Parrish,
Mars,
the Soft Cell,
Delon & Dalcan,
The Tremeloes, The Tremeloes, The Tremeloes, The Tremeloes.
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.