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 Iraq and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1962 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Supertramp to the disco 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 Prince Buster. All the underground hits.
All Sight & Sound tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Red Lorry Yellow Lorry 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gregory Isaacs record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Malaria!,
Liliput,
The Fall,
Max Romeo,
Lucky Dragons,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The Fuzztones,
Pagans,
Kas Product,
Q65,
Crime,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Dawn Penn,
Dave Gahan,
Rekid,
Rites of Spring,
Gang of Four,
The Searchers,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Barclay James Harvest,
Lindisfarne,
The Trojans,
Quadrant,
The Electric Prunes,
Underground Resistance,
The Velvet Underground,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Mandrill,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Ornette Coleman,
Amon Düül II,
Quando Quango,
The Skatalites,
Trumans Water,
Black Bananas,
The Dave Clark Five,
Harry Pussy,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Pylon,
Crooked Eye,
UT,
Faraquet,
Minor Threat,
Alphaville,
DJ Style,
Brand Nubian,
Eden Ahbez,
Sarah Menescal,
Supertramp,
Niagra,
Anthony Braxton,
The Misunderstood,
Bobby Byrd,
Sound Behaviour,
Steve Hackett,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Dead C,
Young Marble Giants, Young Marble Giants, Young Marble Giants, Young Marble Giants.
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.