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 Micronesia 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 1962 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Talk Talk to the rock kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Mark Hollis. All the underground hits.
All Brick tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Derrick May record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a A Certain Ratio record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Neon Judgement,
Scratch Acid,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Litter,
Joey Negro,
Royal Trux,
Deepchord,
Pulsallama,
Dorothy Ashby,
Hardrive,
New York Dolls,
Janne Schatter,
The Smiths,
Yazoo,
Marine Girls,
Wally Richardson,
Second Layer,
Massinfluence,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Lyres,
Spoonie Gee,
Terry Callier,
The Zeros,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Neu!,
The Slits,
Nico,
Black Sheep,
The Beau Brummels,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Fire Engines,
Cymande,
The Alarm Clocks,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Pharoah Sanders,
Adolescents,
Toni Rubio,
Sight & Sound,
Ultimate Spinach,
Sex Pistols,
Babytalk,
Country Joe & The Fish,
the Human League,
Fat Boys,
KRS-One,
Inner City,
Nas,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Cal Tjader,
Organ,
the Sonics,
T. Rex,
Bad Manners,
Albert Ayler,
Morten Harket,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Leaves,
Mission of Burma,
FM Einheit,
Piero Umiliani,
The Names,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Rakim,
Saccharine Trust,
The J.B.'s, The J.B.'s, The J.B.'s, The J.B.'s.
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.