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 Dominica and from Shanghai.
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 Accra and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Youth Brigade to the rap 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 Joensuu 1685. All the underground hits.
All Nils Olav tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Blancmange,
Franke,
Matthew Halsall,
Metal Thangz,
Skaos,
Black Sheep,
Fat Boys,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Agent Orange,
The Grass Roots,
Bad Manners,
Zapp,
Ornette Coleman,
Ponytail,
Schoolly D,
The Fugs,
Anthony Braxton,
Ronan,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Minor Threat,
The Gladiators,
Country Teasers,
Pantaleimon,
Skarface,
The Slits,
Gerry Rafferty,
Boredoms,
The Seeds,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Ronnie Foster,
Tommy Roe,
Dark Day,
Cal Tjader,
Newcleus,
Donald Byrd,
Janne Schatter,
Deadbeat,
Patti Smith,
The Detroit Cobras,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
B.T. Express,
Nik Kershaw,
Soul II Soul,
the Slits,
David McCallum,
This Heat,
Curtis Mayfield,
Mo-Dettes,
The Litter,
Stockholm Monsters,
Tubeway Army,
Freddie Wadling,
The Saints,
Joensuu 1685,
Bill Near,
Drexciya,
The Techniques,
The Sisters of Mercy, The Sisters of Mercy, The Sisters of Mercy, The Sisters of Mercy.
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.