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 Mozambique and from Seoul.
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 1968 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Oneida to the grime 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 Jerry Gold Smith. All the underground hits.
All Sun Ra tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jeff Lynne record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 an oboe and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Blossom Toes record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
10cc,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Essential Logic,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
the Sonics,
Tropical Tobacco,
Terry Callier,
Jacob Miller,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Procol Harum,
Infiniti,
Henry Cow,
Theoretical Girls,
Robert Görl,
Yusef Lateef,
Crooked Eye,
Television,
Radio Birdman,
Chris & Cosey,
Stockholm Monsters,
Depeche Mode,
Pet Shop Boys,
Roxette,
The Fall,
The Modern Lovers,
a-ha,
The Sonics,
Au Pairs,
Soul II Soul,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Suburban Knight,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Siglo XX,
Dead Boys,
The Gladiators,
Throbbing Gristle,
Urselle,
Ice-T,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Ronan,
The Blues Magoos,
Andrew Hill,
Eddi Front,
Matthew Halsall,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Wally Richardson,
Reagan Youth,
Trumans Water,
Roy Ayers,
T. Rex,
Todd Rundgren,
Model 500,
Minnie Riperton,
Black Sheep,
Basic Channel,
Faraquet,
Ossler,
The Fortunes, The Fortunes, The Fortunes, The Fortunes.
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.