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 South Sudan and from Jakarta.
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 1965 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 rhodes 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 Jeff Lynne to the dance kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Leonard Cohen. All the underground hits.
All The Sisters of Mercy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Susan Cadogan 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Yazoo record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sandy B,
The United States of America,
Moby Grape,
Neu!,
Clear Light,
Joy Division,
Jeru the Damaja,
Erykah Badu,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Rhythm & Sound,
Wally Richardson,
Warsaw,
Groovy Waters,
Lakeside,
Joe Smooth,
Jeff Lynne,
The Techniques,
The Detroit Cobras,
Camouflage,
Shoche,
The Smoke,
Minny Pops,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Vainqueur,
Wolf Eyes,
Darondo,
the Swans,
Fatback Band,
DJ Style,
Bauhaus,
The Star Department,
Shuggie Otis,
Dave Gahan,
Yusef Lateef,
the Sonics,
Fugazi,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Flipper,
Saccharine Trust,
Hoover,
Black Moon,
Rufus Thomas,
Dennis Brown,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Fear,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Maleditus Sound,
Wasted Youth,
Bootsy Collins,
These Immortal Souls,
The Mummies,
F. McDonald,
Loose Ends,
Howard Jones,
In Retrospect,
Gregory Isaacs,
Jacques Brel,
Ohio Players,
Rosa Yemen,
Fela Kuti, Fela Kuti, Fela Kuti, Fela Kuti.
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.