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 Kyrgyzstan and from Mexico City.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 Wire practice in a loft in Watford.
I was working on the sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Blackbyrds to the disco 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 Faust. All the underground hits.
All Porter Ricks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sonny Sharrock record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 güiro and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mad Mike record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Fuzztones,
Soulsonic Force,
Ten City,
Spandau Ballet,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Second Layer,
A Certain Ratio,
Kenny Larkin,
L. Decosne,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Quadrant,
Scott Walker,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Max Romeo,
Amazonics,
Jacob Miller,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Young Rascals,
Eden Ahbez,
Parry Music,
The Stooges,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Rotary Connection,
Tres Demented,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
The Slits,
Colin Newman,
Idris Muhammad,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Buckinghams,
Cheater Slicks,
Unwound,
Terry Callier,
the Swans,
Public Enemy,
Technova,
Circle Jerks,
Theoretical Girls,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Anakelly,
Zapp,
Alton Ellis,
Traffic Nightmare,
Nico,
Goldenarms,
The Blackbyrds,
The Victims,
Trumans Water,
Model 500,
Michelle Simonal,
Lucky Dragons,
The Gap Band,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Dorothy Ashby,
Radiopuhelimet,
kango's stein massive,
R.M.O.,
Terrestrial Tones,
the Association,
Don Cherry,
Throbbing Gristle,
DJ Sneak,
Severed Heads,
Guru Guru, Guru Guru, Guru Guru, Guru Guru.
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.