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 Kitts & Nevis and from Lyon.
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 Johannesburg and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 The Fuzztones to the funk 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 The Monks. All the underground hits.
All The Beau Brummels tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Yaz record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 chamberlin and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Buzzcocks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Robert Wyatt,
Jacob Miller,
The Cowsills,
Oblivians,
Ice-T,
The Litter,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Swell Maps,
Joyce Sims,
Sister Nancy,
Camouflage,
Crime,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
New Order,
The Residents,
James White and The Blacks,
Suburban Knight,
The Five Americans,
Infiniti,
Skaos,
Television,
Yazoo,
The Victims,
David Bowie,
Make Up,
Fela Kuti,
The Index,
Funky Four + One,
Kool Moe Dee,
The Music Machine,
China Crisis,
Public Enemy,
Y Pants,
the Human League,
The Tremeloes,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Tres Demented,
Traffic Nightmare,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
The Smoke,
DJ Sneak,
Nils Olav,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Althea and Donna,
Matthew Halsall,
Hoover,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Marcia Griffiths,
Soul II Soul,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
X-Ray Spex,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Pylon,
The Human League,
Pantytec,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Oneida,
Robert Hood, Robert Hood, Robert Hood, Robert Hood.
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.