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 Somalia 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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 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 Wasted Youth to the crunk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Iggy Pop. All the underground hits.
All John Holt tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Robert Hood record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Japan record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Crooked Eye,
Marine Girls,
Schoolly D,
Sexual Harrassment,
Thee Headcoats,
Alton Ellis,
The Residents,
The Associates,
Unwound,
Shoche,
Susan Cadogan,
Vladislav Delay,
Gastr Del Sol,
Sällskapet,
Peter and Kerry,
LL Cool J,
Kenny Larkin,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
A Certain Ratio,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Vainqueur,
Scrapy,
Neu!,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Tomorrow,
Aaron Thompson,
DJ Style,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Y Pants,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Gang Gang Dance,
La Düsseldorf,
Faraquet,
Das Ding,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
ABBA,
The Victims,
Gang Starr,
Clear Light,
Malaria!,
June of 44,
Silicon Teens,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Public Enemy,
Laurel Aitken,
Icehouse,
Ultra Naté,
Alphaville,
Jawbox,
The Saints,
Reuben Wilson,
Fad Gadget,
The Gap Band,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Grass Roots,
Audionom,
Matthew Bourne,
Fatback Band,
Joey Negro,
Bobby Sherman,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Crime,
The American Breed,
The Selecter, The Selecter, The Selecter, The Selecter.
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.