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 Austria and from London.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1960 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Spokane.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the oboe 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 The Fall to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Rahsaan Roland Kirk. All the underground hits.
All Fugazi tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Teenage Jesus and the Jerks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Electric Prunes record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Be Bop Deluxe,
Cameo,
Dead Boys,
Blancmange,
Eurythmics,
Minnie Riperton,
Jacob Miller,
Desert Stars,
the Sonics,
Drexciya,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Bauhaus,
Sarah Menescal,
Massinfluence,
Gang of Four,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Lebanon Hanover,
DNA,
Laurel Aitken,
Traffic Nightmare,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Funky Four + One,
Masters at Work,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Lakeside,
Barry Ungar,
Tres Demented,
Pantytec,
The Toasters,
Ohio Players,
Dorothy Ashby,
Mandrill,
Dave Gahan,
The Music Machine,
The Sound,
Essential Logic,
Yaz,
Vainqueur,
Index,
Echospace,
Sandy B,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
The Fire Engines,
Gong,
Symarip,
Grauzone,
Soul Sonic Force,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Kaleidoscope,
Kas Product,
Country Joe & The Fish,
the Swans,
The Remains,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Pharoah Sanders,
Skarface,
The Detroit Cobras,
The Buckinghams,
Das Ding,
Wire,
Matthew Halsall, Matthew Halsall, Matthew Halsall, Matthew Halsall.
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.