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 Congo and from Manchester.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the marimba 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 The Buckinghams to the grime 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 The Doobie Brothers. All the underground hits.
All Yusef Lateef tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Symarip record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Neu! record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Slave,
Scan 7,
The Tremeloes,
Silicon Teens,
Cheater Slicks,
OOIOO,
Henry Cow,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Roxy Music,
Wasted Youth,
Gang of Four,
Gang Gang Dance,
Bauhaus,
Amon Düül,
Whodini,
Ludus,
Barrington Levy,
Pussy Galore,
Marine Girls,
Moss Icon,
MDC,
Groovy Waters,
Black Flag,
Camouflage,
Albert Ayler,
The Count Five,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Drexciya,
Boredoms,
Althea and Donna,
Ohio Players,
Harry Pussy,
the Soft Cell,
Blake Baxter,
Lightning Bolt,
Pylon,
Alphaville,
Deepchord,
The Sonics,
Clear Light,
Scratch Acid,
Susan Cadogan,
Gichy Dan,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Barclay James Harvest,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Bush Tetras,
the Germs,
Rhythm & Sound,
Mantronix,
Urselle,
Bluetip,
Gregory Isaacs,
David Axelrod,
Wings,
The Cramps,
The American Breed,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Cecil Taylor,
Byron Stingily, Byron Stingily, Byron Stingily, Byron Stingily.
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.