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 Liechtenstein and from Edmonton.
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 1963 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Winnipeg.
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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the güiro 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 Dark Day to the dance kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 James White and The Blacks. All the underground hits.
All Sad Lovers and Giants tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every China Crisis record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Slave record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Electric Prunes,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Television,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Gichy Dan,
The Index,
Joey Negro,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Ohio Players,
Ossler,
Suicide,
Guru Guru,
Rufus Thomas,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Marmalade,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Tremeloes,
U.S. Maple,
Fugazi,
Agitation Free,
Deadbeat,
Little Man,
The Walker Brothers,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Angry Samoans,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Jandek,
Johnny Clarke,
Eyeless In Gaza,
James White and The Blacks,
China Crisis,
Lalo Schifrin,
Mad Mike,
Barry Ungar,
Gregory Isaacs,
Bobby Hutcherson,
T. Rex,
Kayak,
ABC,
The Gladiators,
Groovy Waters,
Bush Tetras,
Morten Harket,
Aural Exciters,
Skarface,
The Fall,
Black Flag,
K-Klass,
Deakin,
The Golliwogs,
Byron Stingily,
Jerry's Kids,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
KRS-One,
Television Personalities,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Stetsasonic,
Brass Construction,
Robert Görl,
X-102, X-102, X-102, X-102.
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.