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 Vanuatu and from Tehran.
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 1965 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 oboe 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 Shuggie Otis to the grime kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 The Sonics. All the underground hits.
All Bluetip tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Talk Talk record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Piero Umiliani record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Supertramp,
Fad Gadget,
Ohio Players,
Whodini,
The Black Dice,
Byron Stingily,
Depeche Mode,
The Zeros,
Girls At Our Best!,
Television Personalities,
Essential Logic,
Godley & Creme,
The Electric Prunes,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Sound,
Public Enemy,
Pet Shop Boys,
MC5,
Pole,
A Certain Ratio,
June of 44,
Graham Central Station,
The Music Machine,
Jeff Lynne,
Unrelated Segments,
The Slackers,
Gang of Four,
Aural Exciters,
Circle Jerks,
Frankie Knuckles,
Archie Shepp,
Juan Atkins,
Lindisfarne,
the Swans,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Human League,
10cc,
Bobby Sherman,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Sällskapet,
Eyeless In Gaza,
The Barracudas,
The Five Americans,
Crispy Ambulance,
Surgeon,
Alton Ellis,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Babytalk,
Oblivians,
The Gladiators,
Malaria!,
Crooked Eye,
Procol Harum,
Cybotron,
Motorama,
Cheater Slicks,
The Smoke,
Intrusion,
The Birthday Party,
the Bar-Kays,
Qualms,
Lebanon Hanover,
Loose Ends, Loose Ends, Loose Ends, Loose Ends.
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.