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 St Kitts & Nevis and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1966 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Manchester.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the marimba 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 The Buckinghams to the grime kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Kango’s Stein Massive. All the underground hits.
All Pylon tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu 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 a clarinet and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jeff Lynne record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ronan,
Chrome,
Model 500,
Procol Harum,
Fatback Band,
Theoretical Girls,
Fela Kuti,
Leonard Cohen,
Monolake,
Janne Schatter,
The Dead C,
Judy Mowatt,
The Fall,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Glenn Branca,
Whodini,
Sandy B,
Lindisfarne,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Boredoms,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Saccharine Trust,
Wally Richardson,
The Raincoats,
Gang of Four,
Delon & Dalcan,
Quantec,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
The Detroit Cobras,
Bronski Beat,
the Swans,
Gastr Del Sol,
The Gladiators,
Barry Ungar,
Lightning Bolt,
Jawbox,
Pere Ubu,
The Music Machine,
Silicon Teens,
The Tremeloes,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Mantronix,
Harry Pussy,
the Fania All-Stars,
Urselle,
The Electric Prunes,
Alison Limerick,
Roxette,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Alton Ellis,
Rapeman,
cv313,
Ultra Naté,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Associates,
Donald Byrd,
Supertramp,
Dawn Penn,
Moebius,
the Slits,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Ossler, Ossler, Ossler, Ossler.
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.