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 New Zealand and from Tehran.
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 1968 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Dave Clark Five to the punk 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 Mantronix. All the underground hits.
All June Days tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every 48th St. Collective record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 rhodes and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Organ record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
China Crisis,
Circle Jerks,
Pere Ubu,
the Human League,
Nick Fraelich,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Spoonie Gee,
The Slackers,
The Doobie Brothers,
MC5,
Scientists,
The Cramps,
Bauhaus,
The Moody Blues,
Sound Behaviour,
Juan Atkins,
Technova,
John Holt,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Girls At Our Best!,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
June Days,
The Fugs,
Steve Hackett,
Barclay James Harvest,
A Certain Ratio,
T.S.O.L.,
Sister Nancy,
John Foxx,
the Bar-Kays,
Stereo Dub,
Gang Starr,
Animal Collective,
Boz Scaggs,
Arthur Verocai,
Dead Boys,
Johnny Osbourne,
Slave,
Procol Harum,
Bronski Beat,
Mandrill,
Rotary Connection,
Con Funk Shun,
Deakin,
Alphaville,
Yellowson,
Quando Quango,
The Divine Comedy,
Isaac Hayes,
Symarip,
The Golliwogs,
David McCallum,
Yazoo,
Danielle Patucci,
The Kinks,
The Count Five,
Wolf Eyes,
Stiv Bators,
Marine Girls,
K-Klass,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Camouflage,
Qualms,
Glenn Branca,
Yaz, Yaz, Yaz, Yaz.
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.