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 Tuvalu and from Philadelphia.
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 1960 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Johannesburg.
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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Joensuu 1685 to the crunk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Tropical Tobacco. All the underground hits.
All Easy Going tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Section 25 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Jesus and Mary Chain record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
the Human League,
Procol Harum,
Ken Boothe,
The Durutti Column,
Unwound,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
World's Most,
Morten Harket,
The Angels of Light,
Rotary Connection,
Glenn Branca,
Dark Day,
Mad Mike,
Cameo,
Franke,
Ronan,
Agent Orange,
Bizarre Inc.,
Connie Case,
Sandy B,
The Zeros,
Schoolly D,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Marine Girls,
Cecil Taylor,
Can,
Neil Young,
The Buckinghams,
Liliput,
Hasil Adkins,
Stockholm Monsters,
Aloha Tigers,
The Searchers,
Ten City,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Pantytec,
Sound Behaviour,
Kurtis Blow,
the Slits,
Iggy Pop,
The Grass Roots,
Interpol,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Johnny Clarke,
Surgeon,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Inner City,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Toni Rubio,
Marc Almond,
Bush Tetras,
L. Decosne,
Piero Umiliani,
Girls At Our Best!,
OOIOO,
The Pop Group,
Jerry's Kids,
8 Eyed Spy,
Cal Tjader,
Moebius,
Eve St. Jones,
a-ha, a-ha, a-ha, a-ha.
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.