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 Japan and from Taipei.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 güiro 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 Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Blake Baxter. All the underground hits.
All Zero Boys tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every D'Angelo 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Blancmange record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Tommy Roe,
10cc,
Gichy Dan,
Erasure,
The United States of America,
Jacob Miller,
Make Up,
Henry Cow,
Tom Boy,
Mantronix,
Con Funk Shun,
Absolute Body Control,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Bronski Beat,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
This Heat,
Sonic Youth,
Darondo,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Gastr Del Sol,
Rod Modell,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Sällskapet,
Arab on Radar,
Rites of Spring,
The Saints,
JFA,
Drive Like Jehu,
ABC,
A Certain Ratio,
Zero Boys,
Susan Cadogan,
Outsiders,
Zapp,
Sandy B,
Eli Mardock,
Unrelated Segments,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Gap Band,
The Grass Roots,
Terrestrial Tones,
Ponytail,
The Fugs,
Brick,
the Bar-Kays,
Bizarre Inc.,
Interpol,
Marshall Jefferson,
Harmonia,
Quando Quango,
Q65,
Steve Hackett,
The Real Kids,
Barrington Levy,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Girls At Our Best!,
The Blackbyrds,
Mark Hollis,
Urselle,
Blancmange,
Mo-Dettes, Mo-Dettes, Mo-Dettes, Mo-Dettes.
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.