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 Thailand and from Houston.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 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 B.T. Express to the electroclash 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 Davy DMX. All the underground hits.
All Newcleus 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 grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Banda Bassotti record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
a-ha,
The Beau Brummels,
Soft Cell,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Theoretical Girls,
Adolescents,
The Move,
Chris & Cosey,
Radiopuhelimet,
Fat Boys,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Andrew Hill,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
The Toasters,
B.T. Express,
Bronski Beat,
the Bar-Kays,
Surgeon,
H. Thieme,
Sly & The Family Stone,
John Lydon,
Wings,
EPMD,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Crime,
Aural Exciters,
Skaos,
Donald Byrd,
Letta Mbulu,
The Red Krayola,
Howard Jones,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Tubeway Army,
Gang Starr,
Albert Ayler,
Clear Light,
The Gories,
Excepter,
The Happenings,
Harmonia,
Ronan,
Iggy Pop,
Gang of Four,
Ossler,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Jeru the Damaja,
Vladislav Delay,
Section 25,
Donny Hathaway,
Eric Dolphy,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Quantec,
Bobby Byrd,
John Holt,
Fatback Band,
Khruangbin,
The Motions,
Eyeless In Gaza,
The Walker Brothers,
Joy Division,
The Fortunes,
Electric Prunes,
Prince Buster, Prince Buster, Prince Buster, Prince Buster.
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.