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 Italy and from Delhi.
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 Paris and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 chamberlin 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 The Motions to the funk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Duran Duran. All the underground hits.
All Be Bop Deluxe tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Black Bananas record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 sitar and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Procol Harum record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
DNA,
Joensuu 1685,
Johnny Clarke,
Soul Sonic Force,
Brick,
Tres Demented,
The Cramps,
B.T. Express,
Dark Day,
Silicon Teens,
Chris & Cosey,
Bizarre Inc.,
Masters at Work,
Avey Tare,
Gichy Dan,
The Smoke,
Das Ding,
Marine Girls,
The Martian,
Angry Samoans,
Metal Thangz,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Kaleidoscope,
The Angels of Light,
Circle Jerks,
Eden Ahbez,
Scientists,
The Pretty Things,
Freddie Wadling,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Alice Coltrane,
John Foxx,
Connie Case,
The Gap Band,
Sam Rivers,
Arcadia,
Jerry's Kids,
Jacques Brel,
Boogie Down Productions,
8 Eyed Spy,
Unrelated Segments,
Alphaville,
Fad Gadget,
Godley & Creme,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Cowsills,
the Swans,
Marcia Griffiths,
Half Japanese,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Letta Mbulu,
Neil Young,
Piero Umiliani,
The Litter,
Kas Product,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Cecil Taylor,
Slave,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Chris Corsano,
Ronan,
Liliput,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Matthew Halsall, Matthew Halsall, Matthew Halsall, Matthew Halsall.
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.