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 Mauritania and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1967 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 arpeggiator 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 Grauzone to the grime kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Selector Dub Narcotic. All the underground hits.
All Cluster tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Dave Clark Five record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Funky Four + One,
Sex Pistols,
Dorothy Ashby,
Quantec,
Altered Images,
Susan Cadogan,
Loose Ends,
The Motions,
Malaria!,
Kenny Larkin,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Radio Birdman,
Youth Brigade,
Barry Ungar,
Soft Machine,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
The Mojo Men,
Carl Craig,
Warsaw,
Robert Hood,
Excepter,
Basic Channel,
The Offenders,
China Crisis,
Gong,
Wolf Eyes,
The Litter,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Smiths,
The Invisible,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
The Misunderstood,
John Coltrane,
Livin' Joy,
Joy Division,
Amon Düül II,
The Residents,
Eyeless In Gaza,
New Order,
Zero Boys,
The Doobie Brothers,
Chrome,
Al Stewart,
Lebanon Hanover,
Saccharine Trust,
Rekid,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Lou Reed,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Stockholm Monsters,
Freddie Wadling,
The Buckinghams,
Urselle,
Delon & Dalcan,
Alphaville,
Anthony Braxton,
Silicon Teens,
Kerrie Biddell,
Matthew Halsall,
Black Moon,
AZ,
Eden Ahbez,
Yusef Lateef,
The Selecter, The Selecter, The Selecter, The Selecter.
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.