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 Mongolia and from Edmonton.
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 1969 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 1977 at the first Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the linndrum 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 Malaria! to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Moss Icon. All the underground hits.
All Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Laurel Aitken record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 harpsichord and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gang Green record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
James Chance & The Contortions,
Sixth Finger,
Dual Sessions,
R.M.O.,
Vladislav Delay,
a-ha,
UT,
Girls At Our Best!,
E-Dancer,
The Detroit Cobras,
Malaria!,
Frankie Knuckles,
Quantec,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Rufus Thomas,
Terrestrial Tones,
the Germs,
Black Flag,
Warren Ellis,
Delta 5,
Rakim,
Bauhaus,
Laurel Aitken,
Bobby Sherman,
Half Japanese,
Carl Craig,
The Red Krayola,
The Doobie Brothers,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Alison Limerick,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Matthew Halsall,
Cymande,
Skarface,
The Knickerbockers,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Minnie Riperton,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
John Foxx,
Dennis Brown,
The Victims,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Gil Scott Heron,
Bobby Womack,
Joyce Sims,
Pantaleimon,
The Selecter,
Roy Ayers,
The Star Department,
Barry Ungar,
Max Romeo,
Ultra Naté,
The Dirtbombs,
X-101,
T.S.O.L.,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Dorothy Ashby,
Fatback Band,
Eve St. Jones,
Radio Birdman,
Buzzcocks,
Saccharine Trust, Saccharine Trust, Saccharine Trust, Saccharine Trust.
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.