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 Bulgaria and from Mumbai.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Halifax.
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 1971 at the first Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 techno 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 Second Layer. All the underground hits.
All New Age Steppers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Moss Icon record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 snare and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Vaughan Mason & Crew record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jerry Gold Smith,
Pagans,
Sister Nancy,
Byron Stingily,
Hasil Adkins,
Cymande,
La Düsseldorf,
Roxy Music,
Fatback Band,
Gang of Four,
Delta 5,
The Last Poets,
ABC,
John Lydon,
Intrusion,
Scrapy,
F. McDonald,
Icehouse,
Crash Course in Science,
Rekid,
Soul Sonic Force,
Bobby Byrd,
Erasure,
Ralphi Rosario,
X-101,
Eric Copeland,
Youth Brigade,
James White and The Blacks,
Dawn Penn,
Ornette Coleman,
Henry Cow,
Bad Manners,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
The Grass Roots,
The Misunderstood,
MDC,
Hashim,
Steve Hackett,
The Slackers,
Organ,
Lou Christie,
Grandmaster Flash,
Arthur Verocai,
Barrington Levy,
Dennis Brown,
Nils Olav,
Outsiders,
Lalo Schifrin,
Nik Kershaw,
the Soft Cell,
Motorama,
It's A Beautiful Day,
David McCallum,
The Durutti Column,
Marmalade,
Lucky Dragons,
Donald Byrd,
X-Ray Spex,
The Smiths,
New Order,
Brothers Johnson, Brothers Johnson, Brothers Johnson, Brothers Johnson.
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.