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 Tuvalu and from Mumbai.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the marimba 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 Radio Birdman to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Marine Girls. All the underground hits.
All Bauhaus tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every DeepChord presents Echospace 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
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 LL Cool J record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Matthew Halsall,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Hashim,
Bad Manners,
Swans,
Peter and Kerry,
Peter & Gordon,
Suburban Knight,
Arcadia,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
The Alarm Clocks,
Pagans,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Soul II Soul,
Bizarre Inc.,
Television Personalities,
Oblivians,
Flipper,
Bauhaus,
Erasure,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Tomorrow,
Skarface,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Scan 7,
Ponytail,
Sparks,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Al Stewart,
ABBA,
Boz Scaggs,
Nas,
Dennis Brown,
the Association,
Bush Tetras,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Cure,
Hardrive,
Qualms,
Lakeside,
The Red Krayola,
The Vogues,
8 Eyed Spy,
Kenny Larkin,
Sight & Sound,
Darondo,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Lyres,
The Remains,
Sun Ra,
The Trojans,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Angels of Light,
Iggy Pop,
Neu!,
Glambeats Corp.,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Lightning Bolt,
ABC,
The Dave Clark Five,
Rapeman, Rapeman, Rapeman, Rapeman.
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.