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 Papua New Guinea and from Johannesburg.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 organ 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 Crime to the dance 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 Shuggie Otis. All the underground hits.
All The Star Department tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Grauzone record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Reagan Youth record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
John Cale,
the Soft Cell,
ABBA,
Bad Manners,
Bill Near,
Minnie Riperton,
The Dead C,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Alice Coltrane,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Residents,
Ohio Players,
Bobby Sherman,
The Star Department,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Monochrome Set,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Accadde A,
Blossom Toes,
The Blackbyrds,
Popol Vuh,
Kaleidoscope,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Eric Dolphy,
Groovy Waters,
cv313,
Newcleus,
The Selecter,
Heaven 17,
The Leaves,
Audionom,
Warren Ellis,
Scott Walker,
D'Angelo,
Cal Tjader,
Aaron Thompson,
10cc,
Scion,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
James White and The Blacks,
Monks,
Von Mondo,
Pussy Galore,
Nico,
Bauhaus,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Eddi Front,
The Modern Lovers,
Grey Daturas,
Matthew Halsall,
The Moleskins,
Nik Kershaw,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
John Coltrane,
Eric Copeland,
Bootsy Collins,
The Wake,
Mad Mike,
Con Funk Shun,
David Bowie, David Bowie, David Bowie, David Bowie.
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.