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 South Sudan and from Cairo.
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 1963 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Stetsasonic to the disco kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 The Shadows of Knight. All the underground hits.
All Marmalade tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bobby Byrd 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a David Bowie record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dorothy Ashby,
Kayak,
Fear,
Bluetip,
Anakelly,
Eve St. Jones,
Mandrill,
Mark Hollis,
Cheater Slicks,
Von Mondo,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Ossler,
The Wake,
New Age Steppers,
the Slits,
Kas Product,
Newcleus,
Procol Harum,
MC5,
Black Sheep,
Ralphi Rosario,
Roger Hodgson,
Franke,
Nation of Ulysses,
cv313,
Basic Channel,
Nik Kershaw,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Eric Dolphy,
Stockholm Monsters,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Joe Smooth,
The Smiths,
Arab on Radar,
Fad Gadget,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Technova,
Hardrive,
Soft Cell,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Fluxion,
Rekid,
Nas,
Frankie Knuckles,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Tommy Roe,
These Immortal Souls,
Althea and Donna,
New York Dolls,
Saccharine Trust,
Marvin Gaye,
The Doors,
Prince Buster,
Alice Coltrane,
Wasted Youth,
The Golliwogs,
Skarface,
The Gap Band,
Unrelated Segments, Unrelated Segments, Unrelated Segments, Unrelated Segments.
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.