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 Cambodia and from Madrid.
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 1964 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 The Invisible to the grime kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 The Seeds. All the underground hits.
All Pantytec tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every In Retrospect record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 marimba and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Buckinghams record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Monochrome Set,
Ice-T,
Ossler,
Archie Shepp,
Matthew Halsall,
The Skatalites,
Cheater Slicks,
Alphaville,
Boogie Down Productions,
Alton Ellis,
Man Eating Sloth,
OOIOO,
Pharoah Sanders,
Sam Rivers,
The New Christs,
Symarip,
New Age Steppers,
JFA,
The American Breed,
Rekid,
The Selecter,
Kool Moe Dee,
Drive Like Jehu,
Soft Cell,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Cramps,
Young Marble Giants,
Vainqueur,
Crooked Eye,
Supertramp,
Bill Near,
Gerry Rafferty,
June of 44,
Wire,
Gichy Dan,
James White and The Blacks,
The Litter,
Sun City Girls,
Bootsy Collins,
The Real Kids,
Ponytail,
A Certain Ratio,
F. McDonald,
Absolute Body Control,
Toni Rubio,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Marine Girls,
Heaven 17,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Thompson Twins,
Dennis Brown,
Audionom,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Moss Icon,
The Zeros,
Judy Mowatt,
Simply Red,
The Blackbyrds,
New York Dolls,
Magazine,
Altered Images, Altered Images, Altered Images, Altered Images.
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.