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 Burkina and from Bremen.
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 1969 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Hong Kong.
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 1976 at the first Buzzcocks practice in a loft in Bolton.
I was working on the theremin 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 FM Einheit to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu. All the underground hits.
All Glambeats Corp. tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Johnny Clarke record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Deadbeat record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The New Christs,
Ken Boothe,
Rotary Connection,
Godley & Creme,
Smog,
the Normal,
Tom Boy,
Rhythm & Sound,
David Bowie,
Animal Collective,
The Seeds,
Circle Jerks,
Rufus Thomas,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Bad Manners,
The Gun Club,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
The Young Rascals,
These Immortal Souls,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Drexciya,
Robert Wyatt,
cv313,
Sixth Finger,
New Order,
Panda Bear,
Todd Terry,
Ice-T,
Fear,
The Smiths,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Shuggie Otis,
the Human League,
Alison Limerick,
Funky Four + One,
D'Angelo,
The United States of America,
Nas,
The Slackers,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Terry Callier,
Bob Dylan,
Quadrant,
The Offenders,
Gabor Szabo,
Black Sheep,
Howard Jones,
Desert Stars,
Soft Machine,
The Neon Judgement,
Alice Coltrane,
Faust,
The J.B.'s,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
June Days,
Magazine,
X-101,
Motorama,
Roger Hodgson,
Aural Exciters,
Sparks, Sparks, Sparks, Sparks.
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.