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 Somalia and from Copenhagen.
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 1960 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1977 at the first Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the organ 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 Accadde A to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Prince Buster. All the underground hits.
All The Saints tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Boogie Down Productions 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Deepchord record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Parry Music,
Fear,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Delta 5,
The Knickerbockers,
Crooked Eye,
Lindisfarne,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Massinfluence,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Fat Boys,
Ponytail,
The Walker Brothers,
The Star Department,
Youth Brigade,
Easy Going,
The Move,
Ultimate Spinach,
Crispy Ambulance,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
The Detroit Cobras,
E-Dancer,
Dennis Brown,
Babytalk,
The Last Poets,
The Divine Comedy,
Alton Ellis,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Silicon Teens,
Grauzone,
Little Man,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
LL Cool J,
Junior Murvin,
Lungfish,
Jacques Brel,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Flamin' Groovies,
Talk Talk,
Cymande,
Soft Cell,
Pet Shop Boys,
Quantec,
Black Sheep,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Eric Copeland,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
The Fuzztones,
Newcleus,
The Index,
Davy DMX,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Bauhaus,
Oneida,
Bobby Sherman,
One Last Wish,
Alison Limerick, Alison Limerick, Alison Limerick, Alison Limerick.
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.