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 Colombia and from Spokane.
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 1966 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Swell Maps to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Magma. All the underground hits.
All Boz Scaggs tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Clear Light record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Barclay James Harvest record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Camberwell Now,
Pussy Galore,
Ituana,
Khruangbin,
Lightning Bolt,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Au Pairs,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Moby Grape,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Eurythmics,
Trumans Water,
The Leaves,
Brothers Johnson,
Marc Almond,
Jacob Miller,
JFA,
L. Decosne,
Isaac Hayes,
Skaos,
Massinfluence,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Technova,
Visage,
Patti Smith,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Yaz,
The Cramps,
Chrome,
Bill Near,
Can,
Dark Day,
The Searchers,
Excepter,
Interpol,
Shoche,
Nirvana,
Marine Girls,
Derrick Morgan,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Gang Gang Dance,
World's Most,
Jandek,
Angry Samoans,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Severed Heads,
Silicon Teens,
The Doors,
Quando Quango,
The Neon Judgement,
Spandau Ballet,
Thee Headcoats,
Bauhaus,
Glambeats Corp.,
the Normal,
Black Sheep,
The New Christs,
The Misunderstood,
Magma,
Minutemen, Minutemen, Minutemen, Minutemen.
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.