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 Lebanon and from London.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the 808 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 New Order to the dance 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 Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan. All the underground hits.
All Ossler tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Joy Division record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Junior Murvin record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Normal,
Negative Approach,
Flamin' Groovies,
Terry Callier,
Erasure,
Johnny Clarke,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Television Personalities,
Junior Murvin,
The United States of America,
The Fall,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Camberwell Now,
Drive Like Jehu,
Barry Ungar,
Nirvana,
Peter and Kerry,
Ten City,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Nico,
Quadrant,
Johnny Osbourne,
Maurizio,
Symarip,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Fortunes,
China Crisis,
Scan 7,
Joyce Sims,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
DJ Style,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Glenn Branca,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Magazine,
The Moody Blues,
Brick,
The Residents,
Porter Ricks,
Wally Richardson,
ABC,
Bill Wells,
Mantronix,
Boz Scaggs,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Can,
The Cowsills,
The Alarm Clocks,
Mad Mike,
The Associates,
Niagra,
The Cosmic Jokers,
John Foxx,
Pharoah Sanders,
Moss Icon,
The Birthday Party,
The J.B.'s,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Move,
Fifty Foot Hose, Fifty Foot Hose, Fifty Foot Hose, Fifty Foot Hose.
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.