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 Fiji 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 1961 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 harpsichord 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 London Community Gospel Choir to the electroclash 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 the Sonics. All the underground hits.
All Rakim tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Qualms 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Procol Harum,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Underground Resistance,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Gladiators,
Lakeside,
Charles Mingus,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Mo-Dettes,
Bobby Womack,
The Velvet Underground,
Swell Maps,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Crooked Eye,
Traffic Nightmare,
One Last Wish,
Eric B and Rakim,
Gang Green,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Terrestrial Tones,
Inner City,
Khruangbin,
The Shadows of Knight,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Radio Birdman,
Rosa Yemen,
Rufus Thomas,
Kaleidoscope,
Minny Pops,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Cluster,
Outsiders,
the Human League,
Jimmy McGriff,
Derrick May,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
FM Einheit,
X-102,
Yellowson,
Pussy Galore,
Amon Düül II,
The Associates,
Alison Limerick,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Rhythm & Sound,
Peter & Gordon,
The New Christs,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
48th St. Collective,
The American Breed,
Howard Jones,
Model 500,
Neil Young,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
The Sonics,
Magma,
Wasted Youth,
Bronski Beat,
The United States of America,
Jandek,
Moss Icon,
Graham Central Station, Graham Central Station, Graham Central Station, Graham Central Station.
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.