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 Madrid.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Black Sheep to the rock kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Red Lorry Yellow Lorry. All the underground hits.
All Whodini tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Youth Brigade record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Terrestrial Tones record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Mighty Diamonds,
Alice Coltrane,
Alison Limerick,
Crime,
Minor Threat,
Mars,
Cymande,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Albert Ayler,
MC5,
Patti Smith,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Dark Day,
Wings,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Angels of Light,
Pharoah Sanders,
Oneida,
a-ha,
The Zeros,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Jeff Lynne,
FM Einheit,
Jacob Miller,
Cybotron,
Echospace,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Schoolly D,
Nik Kershaw,
David McCallum,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Erasure,
Malaria!,
Trumans Water,
Lakeside,
Siglo XX,
Bizarre Inc.,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Faust,
Black Flag,
Soul II Soul,
John Foxx,
K-Klass,
Clear Light,
Sonic Youth,
Eli Mardock,
The Busters,
T.S.O.L.,
Flamin' Groovies,
In Retrospect,
Fela Kuti,
Steve Hackett,
Qualms,
Banda Bassotti,
Tomorrow,
Scan 7,
Scott Walker,
Surgeon,
Yellowson,
Saccharine Trust,
The Young Rascals,
World's Most, World's Most, World's Most, World's Most.
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.