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 Qatar and from Halifax.
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 1962 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the theremin 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 Deadbeat to the rap kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Lizzy Mercier Descloux. All the underground hits.
All Pere Ubu tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Manfred Mann's Earth Band 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Todd Terry record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Neu!,
Gerry Rafferty,
Visage,
Jacques Brel,
Johnny Clarke,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Sällskapet,
Henry Cow,
Ponytail,
Cal Tjader,
The Cowsills,
One Last Wish,
Stockholm Monsters,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The Doors,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
The Velvet Underground,
Sixth Finger,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Neon Judgement,
Laurel Aitken,
Liliput,
The Monks,
John Lydon,
Accadde A,
Lalann,
David Axelrod,
Section 25,
Lucky Dragons,
Archie Shepp,
Grandmaster Flash,
Glenn Branca,
Harmonia,
Lou Christie,
Traffic Nightmare,
Organ,
Janne Schatter,
Kool Moe Dee,
Arcadia,
U.S. Maple,
Mad Mike,
Young Marble Giants,
Warren Ellis,
Barry Ungar,
Scott Walker,
Youth Brigade,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Byron Stingily,
Groovy Waters,
Nirvana,
The Durutti Column,
Ludus,
Livin' Joy,
David Bowie,
Underground Resistance,
The Evens,
Kurtis Blow,
Cymande,
Brand Nubian, Brand Nubian, Brand Nubian, Brand Nubian.
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.