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 Eritrea and from Tehran.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Deepchord to the punk 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 Basic Channel. All the underground hits.
All 10cc tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every UT 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Angels of Light record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Sixth Finger,
Dave Gahan,
Moss Icon,
Gastr Del Sol,
Japan,
The Searchers,
Alphaville,
Swans,
Los Fastidios,
Mad Mike,
The Cure,
Tropical Tobacco,
Echospace,
Angry Samoans,
Robert Wyatt,
New Order,
Chris & Cosey,
Saccharine Trust,
The Star Department,
Public Enemy,
Technova,
Graham Central Station,
Avey Tare,
T.S.O.L.,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
The Smoke,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Jesper Dahlback,
X-102,
The American Breed,
Qualms,
Warren Ellis,
Alice Coltrane,
Lebanon Hanover,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Fortunes,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Excepter,
Bobby Womack,
The Smiths,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Soul Sonic Force,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Altered Images,
Scan 7,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The Seeds,
Pylon,
Maleditus Sound,
Pussy Galore,
The Raincoats,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Wake,
Funky Four + One,
Joey Negro,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Slave,
Nick Fraelich,
Iggy Pop,
Fugazi,
Desert Stars, Desert Stars, Desert Stars, Desert Stars.
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.