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 Panama and from Woodstock.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 snare 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 Faust 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 Fort Wilson Riot. All the underground hits.
All Ponytail tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Hashim 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Alison Limerick record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Grey Daturas,
Mary Jane Girls,
Crispian St. Peters,
Von Mondo,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Malaria!,
The Knickerbockers,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Rotary Connection,
Fear,
Khruangbin,
Joy Division,
Minor Threat,
Supertramp,
Bauhaus,
The Cowsills,
Ultra Naté,
The Fuzztones,
Liliput,
Sex Pistols,
Young Marble Giants,
Accadde A,
Quadrant,
the Fania All-Stars,
Bad Manners,
Rhythm & Sound,
Gastr Del Sol,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Cymande,
Man Eating Sloth,
Banda Bassotti,
Sun City Girls,
Heaven 17,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
B.T. Express,
Gang Starr,
The Grass Roots,
Nik Kershaw,
Jerry's Kids,
The Tremeloes,
The Misunderstood,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Donald Byrd,
Lindisfarne,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
The Star Department,
Dead Boys,
Blossom Toes,
Warsaw,
Avey Tare,
David McCallum,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Minny Pops,
Ronan,
Agent Orange,
These Immortal Souls,
Popol Vuh,
The Wake,
Morten Harket,
Donny Hathaway,
Gang of Four,
Mr. Review,
Skarface,
Deepchord, Deepchord, Deepchord, Deepchord.
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.