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 Lucia and from Hong Kong.
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 1965 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 1977 at the first Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the mellotron 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 Terry Callier to the techno kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Can. All the underground hits.
All Sex Pistols tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kaleidoscope 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Shuggie Otis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Excepter,
Rufus Thomas,
Urselle,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Grandmaster Flash,
Aloha Tigers,
Curtis Mayfield,
Brand Nubian,
X-Ray Spex,
Unrelated Segments,
The Litter,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
The Shadows of Knight,
the Bar-Kays,
Lou Christie,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Pussy Galore,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Darondo,
Hot Snakes,
Max Romeo,
The Electric Prunes,
John Lydon,
R.M.O.,
Graham Central Station,
The Red Krayola,
Symarip,
The Dead C,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Bauhaus,
Moebius,
Isaac Hayes,
Mr. Review,
The Walker Brothers,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Depeche Mode,
Johnny Osbourne,
the Normal,
Hardrive,
David Bowie,
Brass Construction,
Metal Thangz,
Nils Olav,
Public Image Ltd.,
Loose Ends,
The Golliwogs,
The Mummies,
Crash Course in Science,
Minor Threat,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Marvin Gaye,
Amon Düül II,
Boredoms,
Dennis Brown,
The Last Poets,
Kerri Chandler,
Tres Demented,
The Fall,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Gladiators,
The Cramps, The Cramps, The Cramps, The Cramps.
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.