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 France and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Buzzcocks show in Bolton.
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 1967 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Philadelphia.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 June Days 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 B.T. Express. All the underground hits.
All Eve St. Jones tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Joe Smooth record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 guitar and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Thompson Twins record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Moby Grape,
Subhumans,
The Gun Club,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Banda Bassotti,
Scratch Acid,
Bauhaus,
Tubeway Army,
Pere Ubu,
Audionom,
Icehouse,
Soft Machine,
Idris Muhammad,
The Black Dice,
Sam Rivers,
Prince Buster,
Pulsallama,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Von Mondo,
Black Sheep,
Yusef Lateef,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Derrick May,
The Leaves,
Jesper Dahlback,
Glenn Branca,
David Axelrod,
Eurythmics,
Sight & Sound,
Sällskapet,
Graham Central Station,
Ponytail,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Arab on Radar,
The Move,
Kevin Saunderson,
Duran Duran,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
The Pretty Things,
Nils Olav,
the Normal,
David McCallum,
Loose Ends,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Sun Ra,
Soft Cell,
Buzzcocks,
The Evens,
Jerry's Kids,
Electric Prunes,
Michelle Simonal,
Depeche Mode,
Bush Tetras,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
the Human League,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Fatback Band,
Spoonie Gee,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Pantaleimon,
John Coltrane,
Y Pants,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy, The Peanut Butter Conspiracy, The Peanut Butter Conspiracy, The Peanut Butter Conspiracy.
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.