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 Denmark and from Shanghai.
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 1967 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 the Soft Cell to the rock kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Stereo Dub. All the underground hits.
All X-Ray Spex tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The American Breed record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Young Rascals record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dawn Penn,
Hasil Adkins,
Bang On A Can,
The Barracudas,
The Velvet Underground,
The Pretty Things,
Guru Guru,
Archie Shepp,
Arab on Radar,
Erykah Badu,
Camberwell Now,
These Immortal Souls,
Bad Manners,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Gang Green,
Accadde A,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
the Slits,
Motorama,
Idris Muhammad,
Glenn Branca,
Joyce Sims,
X-102,
Livin' Joy,
Radiopuhelimet,
Jandek,
Sight & Sound,
Bobby Byrd,
Judy Mowatt,
Dennis Brown,
Wings,
Ornette Coleman,
Theoretical Girls,
Harmonia,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Divine Comedy,
Rotary Connection,
Clear Light,
The Saints,
Gregory Isaacs,
Pole,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Pantaleimon,
Qualms,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
The Dead C,
Deadbeat,
Kool Moe Dee,
Lucky Dragons,
Liliput,
D'Angelo,
Maurizio,
Aloha Tigers,
Depeche Mode,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Prince Buster,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
This Heat,
Unrelated Segments,
Make Up,
Half Japanese, Half Japanese, Half Japanese, Half Japanese.
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.