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 Albania and from Houston.
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 1967 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Y Pants to the dance kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Crime. All the underground hits.
All Agent Orange tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fear 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Johnny Osbourne record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Dirtbombs,
Ohio Players,
Marine Girls,
Laurel Aitken,
Icehouse,
Blake Baxter,
David McCallum,
Rod Modell,
Excepter,
Tropical Tobacco,
the Sonics,
Panda Bear,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Ultravox,
Metal Thangz,
the Swans,
The Human League,
Soft Cell,
Aaron Thompson,
Soul Sonic Force,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Curtis Mayfield,
Tres Demented,
Robert Wyatt,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Susan Cadogan,
Chris & Cosey,
Gichy Dan,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Intrusion,
B.T. Express,
Fad Gadget,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Robert Görl,
Juan Atkins,
The Mojo Men,
Brand Nubian,
Whodini,
Vladislav Delay,
The Sonics,
The Golliwogs,
Bobby Hutcherson,
the Fania All-Stars,
Steve Hackett,
Lee Hazlewood,
Stiv Bators,
The Dave Clark Five,
Bronski Beat,
Aswad,
The Happenings,
The Fire Engines,
The Birthday Party,
June of 44,
Joyce Sims,
Pylon,
F. McDonald,
Roxette,
LL Cool J,
Von Mondo, Von Mondo, Von Mondo, Von Mondo.
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.