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 Kazakhstan and from Winnipeg.
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 1964 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Pretty Things to the grunge kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Fugazi. All the underground hits.
All Bronski Beat tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bad Manners 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Peter & Gordon record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Urselle,
Bill Near,
Marvin Gaye,
The Motions,
Minnie Riperton,
The Smoke,
Second Layer,
Wasted Youth,
Harry Pussy,
Royal Trux,
Grey Daturas,
Alice Coltrane,
The Zeros,
The Durutti Column,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Trojans,
The Associates,
Public Enemy,
Unrelated Segments,
The Slits,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Lou Reed,
Warsaw,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
The Five Americans,
Shoche,
PIL,
the Germs,
The Busters,
The Remains,
Rites of Spring,
Rosa Yemen,
Juan Atkins,
Matthew Bourne,
The Grass Roots,
Donald Byrd,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Mo-Dettes,
Bad Manners,
Grauzone,
Trumans Water,
Cameo,
DNA,
Malaria!,
Gang of Four,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Main Source,
Mantronix,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Excepter,
Icehouse,
Sandy B,
Wolf Eyes,
Agent Orange,
Lucky Dragons,
The Smiths,
The Fuzztones,
Todd Rundgren,
DJ Sneak,
Scrapy,
Slave,
Black Bananas,
Brothers Johnson,
the Slits,
The Golliwogs, The Golliwogs, The Golliwogs, The Golliwogs.
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.