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 Costa Rica and from Shanghai.
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 1960 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Guru Guru to the techno kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 David Bowie. All the underground hits.
All Groovy Waters 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 electroclash 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 snare and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Guru Guru record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Gun Club,
Urselle,
The Birthday Party,
Negative Approach,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Mantronix,
MDC,
Eric B and Rakim,
T. Rex,
Man Eating Sloth,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Cybotron,
Mark Hollis,
Fatback Band,
Kaleidoscope,
The Fugs,
Hoover,
Godley & Creme,
Matthew Halsall,
Nils Olav,
The Monks,
The Kinks,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Fall,
The Associates,
Dennis Brown,
Amon Düül,
Black Moon,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Pulsallama,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Scion,
Wings,
Gastr Del Sol,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Beasts of Bourbon,
The Busters,
Parry Music,
Siglo XX,
The Victims,
Alton Ellis,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Kas Product,
DJ Sneak,
Unrelated Segments,
Black Bananas,
Joey Negro,
Ludus,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Organ,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Terry Callier,
Iggy Pop,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Gang of Four,
Ultimate Spinach,
Boz Scaggs,
Faraquet,
Matthew Bourne,
Junior Murvin,
John Coltrane, John Coltrane, John Coltrane, John Coltrane.
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.