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 Botswana and from Tokyo.
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 1967 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 X-102 to the dance kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Ludus. All the underground hits.
All Girls At Our Best! tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Johnny Osbourne record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 a 808 and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a June Days record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jawbox,
Moss Icon,
Kaleidoscope,
Radiopuhelimet,
Nirvana,
Goldenarms,
Dawn Penn,
Tommy Roe,
Sister Nancy,
Bad Manners,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The American Breed,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Gastr Del Sol,
The Sonics,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Nick Fraelich,
Kenny Larkin,
Wasted Youth,
Leonard Cohen,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Lebanon Hanover,
Lakeside,
Deakin,
Stiv Bators,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Aaron Thompson,
the Slits,
Darondo,
Gong,
Lyres,
Little Man,
Gang Green,
The Skatalites,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
World's Most,
Jeru the Damaja,
The Busters,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Technova,
Blossom Toes,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Deepchord,
The Leaves,
Gerry Rafferty,
Arthur Verocai,
Swans,
The Vogues,
The Sound,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
The United States of America,
Chrome,
Suicide,
The Move,
UT,
Patti Smith,
Gang Gang Dance,
Jandek,
10cc,
Terry Callier,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
This Heat, This Heat, This Heat, This Heat.
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.