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 Japan and from Manila.
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 Bologna and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 harpsichord 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 The Happenings to the electroclash kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 MC5. All the underground hits.
All JFA tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Japan 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a These Immortal Souls record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Neil Young,
Black Bananas,
Byron Stingily,
Ronan,
Althea and Donna,
The Busters,
Scan 7,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Count Five,
10cc,
Smog,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Lou Christie,
Amazonics,
Bizarre Inc.,
Howard Jones,
Jimmy McGriff,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Rotary Connection,
Thompson Twins,
Scott Walker,
Sonic Youth,
Deakin,
David Axelrod,
Leonard Cohen,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Rufus Thomas,
The Red Krayola,
Joensuu 1685,
Faust,
F. McDonald,
The Skatalites,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Suicide,
Bush Tetras,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Eden Ahbez,
Gabor Szabo,
Sixth Finger,
Sun City Girls,
The Associates,
The Fortunes,
Silicon Teens,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Lalo Schifrin,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Public Enemy,
Cybotron,
Matthew Bourne,
Franke,
The Dead C,
Ronnie Foster,
The Cowsills,
Erasure,
Steve Hackett,
In Retrospect,
Audionom,
the Sonics,
Stockholm Monsters,
Max Romeo,
Banda Bassotti, Banda Bassotti, Banda Bassotti, Banda Bassotti.
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.