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 Manila.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Bronski Beat show in Brixton.
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 1960 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Shanghai.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the güiro 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 Todd Terry to the grime kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Kas Product. All the underground hits.
All The Cure tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every New Order 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Alarm Clocks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Robert Wyatt,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Kas Product,
Sight & Sound,
Q and Not U,
Matthew Bourne,
These Immortal Souls,
Drexciya,
PIL,
Deepchord,
the Soft Cell,
Icehouse,
Mandrill,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Sunsets and Hearts,
The Durutti Column,
The Moleskins,
Leonard Cohen,
La Düsseldorf,
Quando Quango,
Pierre Henry,
Chris Corsano,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Tropical Tobacco,
The Kinks,
Excepter,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Oneida,
The Fugs,
Deadbeat,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Peter & Gordon,
Marine Girls,
Boogie Down Productions,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Pet Shop Boys,
Nik Kershaw,
John Foxx,
Public Image Ltd.,
Sun Ra,
Sam Rivers,
Alice Coltrane,
Aural Exciters,
Country Teasers,
Sound Behaviour,
The Star Department,
Arab on Radar,
Bob Dylan,
Stiv Bators,
Anthony Braxton,
Pussy Galore,
Intrusion,
The Evens,
Minnie Riperton,
The Index,
Newcleus,
The Gladiators,
Moby Grape,
Marcia Griffiths,
Neil Young,
The Pretty Things,
Can, Can, Can, Can.
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.