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 Mauritius and from Tehran.
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 1961 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 synthesizer 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 Black Moon to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Pussy Galore. All the underground hits.
All Angry Samoans tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Electric Prunes record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Curtis Mayfield record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron 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 Selecter,
The Star Department,
Lyres,
Mark Hollis,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Boz Scaggs,
The Real Kids,
Pierre Henry,
Duran Duran,
Kaleidoscope,
Ultimate Spinach,
Tommy Roe,
Vladislav Delay,
Mandrill,
Alphaville,
Los Fastidios,
The Golliwogs,
Sparks,
Gil Scott Heron,
Spoonie Gee,
UT,
Jeru the Damaja,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Soul II Soul,
Oneida,
Frankie Knuckles,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Hot Snakes,
Dual Sessions,
The Last Poets,
Skarface,
Cal Tjader,
Toni Rubio,
X-102,
The Index,
The J.B.'s,
Bronski Beat,
MC5,
Urselle,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Peter and Kerry,
The Grass Roots,
Chrome,
Niagra,
Aural Exciters,
Crispy Ambulance,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Gregory Isaacs,
Quando Quango,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Make Up,
Aaron Thompson,
Funky Four + One,
X-Ray Spex,
The Angels of Light,
Gang Starr,
The Mummies,
Moby Grape,
Dead Boys,
Lindisfarne,
DJ Sneak, DJ Sneak, DJ Sneak, DJ Sneak.
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.