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 Rwanda and from Calgary.
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 1964 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 Buzzcocks practice in a loft in Bolton.
I was working on the guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 D'Angelo to the jazz kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Gang Gang Dance. All the underground hits.
All Bootsy's Rubber Band tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every These Immortal Souls record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mantronix record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sonic Youth,
Angry Samoans,
Desert Stars,
The Move,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Byron Stingily,
Suburban Knight,
Matthew Bourne,
Ice-T,
The Walker Brothers,
The Busters,
Gang Gang Dance,
Slick Rick,
Moebius,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Johnny Clarke,
Stockholm Monsters,
Althea and Donna,
Rekid,
Rosa Yemen,
Kaleidoscope,
Scion,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Robert Wyatt,
Funkadelic,
Marcia Griffiths,
FM Einheit,
The Pop Group,
Pet Shop Boys,
Lakeside,
Newcleus,
The Gun Club,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
T. Rex,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Sarah Menescal,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Country Teasers,
Franke,
Mantronix,
Banda Bassotti,
PIL,
Howard Jones,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Wasted Youth,
The Beau Brummels,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
the Association,
The J.B.'s,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Tomorrow,
Pole,
Pulsallama,
Glenn Branca,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Bootsy Collins,
Soft Machine,
The Slits,
Icehouse,
Reuben Wilson,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Dorothy Ashby,
Jandek,
Rhythim Is Rhythim, Rhythim Is Rhythim, Rhythim Is Rhythim, Rhythim Is Rhythim.
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.