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 Bulgaria 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 1968 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Lyon.
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 Bronski Beat practice in a loft in Brixton.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 10cc to the grunge 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 Harmonia. All the underground hits.
All The Names tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rufus Thomas record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kayak record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Velvet Underground,
Anthony Braxton,
Country Teasers,
Wings,
Joyce Sims,
Johnny Clarke,
DJ Style,
Prince Buster,
X-Ray Spex,
Simply Red,
Derrick May,
Suburban Knight,
the Slits,
Nation of Ulysses,
Monolake,
Royal Trux,
Joy Division,
Siglo XX,
Easy Going,
Sugar Minott,
Lower 48,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Joe Finger,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Offenders,
Joey Negro,
Gang Starr,
Ice-T,
Scion,
Animal Collective,
Lou Christie,
Theoretical Girls,
Glenn Branca,
Absolute Body Control,
the Normal,
Quantec,
Television,
Sex Pistols,
Danielle Patucci,
Susan Cadogan,
Jeff Lynne,
Oblivians,
Scientists,
Can,
Leonard Cohen,
Porter Ricks,
Rosa Yemen,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Bizarre Inc.,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
the Human League,
Skriet,
Khruangbin,
Slave,
The Divine Comedy,
Tim Buckley,
Al Stewart,
a-ha,
the Swans,
Minor Threat,
Unwound,
Roy Ayers,
Country Joe & The Fish, Country Joe & The Fish, Country Joe & The Fish, Country Joe & The Fish.
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.