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 Turkmenistan and from Stockholm.
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 1964 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Halifax.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 1983 at the first Bronski Beat practice in a loft in Brixton.
I was working on the linndrum 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 Amazonics to the grime kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Quantec. All the underground hits.
All Laurel Aitken tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Soft Cell 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a A Certain Ratio record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bill Near,
Qualms,
Surgeon,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
The Pop Group,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Unwound,
The Stooges,
Severed Heads,
Bobby Womack,
Jerry's Kids,
Gichy Dan,
The Trojans,
Agitation Free,
Television,
Technova,
The United States of America,
Aaron Thompson,
John Cale,
Rapeman,
Bobby Byrd,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Warsaw,
Sex Pistols,
Kevin Saunderson,
Suburban Knight,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Letta Mbulu,
Absolute Body Control,
Banda Bassotti,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Monolake,
Boredoms,
Hot Snakes,
Talk Talk,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Brothers Johnson,
The Associates,
Scrapy,
Stiv Bators,
Dual Sessions,
MDC,
Terrestrial Tones,
Roxy Music,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Mummies,
Sugar Minott,
Flipper,
Pantytec,
Sight & Sound,
Nirvana,
Jesper Dahlback,
Siglo XX,
Graham Central Station,
Franke,
Fela Kuti,
Skaos,
T. Rex,
The Fire Engines,
The Star Department,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Divine Comedy,
Joy Division, Joy Division, Joy Division, Joy Division.
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.