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 Georgia and from Accra.
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 1961 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Cameo 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 Alton Ellis. All the underground hits.
All Sällskapet tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Monks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Michelle Simonal,
The Sound,
Scratch Acid,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Tom Boy,
Wasted Youth,
ABC,
Ronan,
Ultimate Spinach,
Grey Daturas,
Quadrant,
Vladislav Delay,
Bobby Sherman,
EPMD,
Kas Product,
Jeru the Damaja,
Organ,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
The Smoke,
The Standells,
The Young Rascals,
The Walker Brothers,
Funky Four + One,
Camberwell Now,
The Victims,
Bauhaus,
This Heat,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Tim Buckley,
Andrew Hill,
Peter and Kerry,
June of 44,
Kenny Larkin,
Harmonia,
The Monochrome Set,
Marvin Gaye,
Grauzone,
Judy Mowatt,
Public Enemy,
Delta 5,
Janne Schatter,
Arab on Radar,
David McCallum,
The Seeds,
Zapp,
Icehouse,
Gregory Isaacs,
Metal Thangz,
Ronnie Foster,
Gong,
Grandmaster Flash,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Bob Dylan,
Royal Trux,
Brand Nubian,
Slick Rick,
Zero Boys,
Y Pants,
Delon & Dalcan, Delon & Dalcan, Delon & Dalcan, Delon & Dalcan.
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.