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 Ecuador 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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Zero Boys to the disco 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 Zero Boys. All the underground hits.
All Fad Gadget tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Oblivians record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 linndrum and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Slits record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Little Man,
Colin Newman,
Kerrie Biddell,
Yaz,
Ice-T,
Procol Harum,
Grauzone,
Rhythm & Sound,
Wings,
The Velvet Underground,
Ralphi Rosario,
Cheater Slicks,
The Pop Group,
Talk Talk,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
UT,
the Germs,
The Gun Club,
Agent Orange,
Bobby Byrd,
Roxette,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Delta 5,
10cc,
Dead Boys,
Delon & Dalcan,
Accadde A,
Alice Coltrane,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
The Misunderstood,
Kevin Saunderson,
One Last Wish,
Radiopuhelimet,
Mad Mike,
X-102,
Lungfish,
Marshall Jefferson,
Roxy Music,
New York Dolls,
Y Pants,
Harry Pussy,
The Monochrome Set,
Youth Brigade,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Real Kids,
Blossom Toes,
K-Klass,
Camberwell Now,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Jeff Lynne,
Patti Smith,
Gil Scott Heron,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Curtis Mayfield,
the Bar-Kays,
Quadrant,
Althea and Donna,
This Heat,
Eli Mardock, Eli Mardock, Eli Mardock, Eli Mardock.
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.