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 Benin and from Philadelphia.
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 1963 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 Wire practice in a loft in Watford.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Prince Buster to the rock 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 Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane. All the underground hits.
All World's Most tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a John Foxx record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
London Community Gospel Choir,
Second Layer,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Flamin' Groovies,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Derrick May,
Robert Hood,
Shoche,
Traffic Nightmare,
Steve Hackett,
the Normal,
The Human League,
Liliput,
Ken Boothe,
Boredoms,
Marcia Griffiths,
Roxy Music,
Matthew Halsall,
Fela Kuti,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Kerri Chandler,
Lou Reed,
The United States of America,
Mary Jane Girls,
Crispy Ambulance,
Thee Headcoats,
Funkadelic,
John Lydon,
Monks,
China Crisis,
The Pretty Things,
The Searchers,
The Fuzztones,
Con Funk Shun,
Aswad,
Dead Boys,
Soulsonic Force,
Kas Product,
Graham Central Station,
Grandmaster Flash,
Bill Wells,
Outsiders,
Andrew Hill,
Joensuu 1685,
Cameo,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The Grass Roots,
Danielle Patucci,
June of 44,
Davy DMX,
Mission of Burma,
DJ Style,
Black Flag,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Marine Girls,
Nation of Ulysses,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Tres Demented,
Eli Mardock,
Wally Richardson,
Skaos, Skaos, Skaos, Skaos.
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.