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 Botswana 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 1961 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 guitar 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 Gerry Rafferty to the electroclash kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Clear Light. All the underground hits.
All Don Cherry tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Last Poets 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 snare and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Q and Not U record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Ohio Players,
Warsaw,
Arthur Verocai,
Bill Near,
CMW,
LL Cool J,
Aswad,
The Divine Comedy,
Model 500,
Half Japanese,
Sällskapet,
Matthew Bourne,
Cluster,
Idris Muhammad,
Intrusion,
Kerrie Biddell,
Simply Red,
Ronnie Foster,
Aloha Tigers,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Minnie Riperton,
AZ,
The Associates,
The Litter,
X-101,
Mars,
the Soft Cell,
Pharoah Sanders,
Porter Ricks,
Angry Samoans,
DJ Style,
K-Klass,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Smiths,
Scott Walker,
The Busters,
Tomorrow,
Tim Buckley,
Brass Construction,
Brick,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Juan Atkins,
Mary Jane Girls,
Laurel Aitken,
The New Christs,
The Slits,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Henry Cow,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Lucky Dragons,
Camberwell Now,
The Doobie Brothers,
Skarface,
The Sound,
Stetsasonic,
Oblivians, Oblivians, Oblivians, Oblivians.
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.