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 Malawi and from Hong Kong.
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 1963 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Curtis Mayfield to the grime kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Saccharine Trust. All the underground hits.
All Porter Ricks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Siglo XX record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 güiro and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Nation of Ulysses,
Buzzcocks,
Bad Manners,
Ralphi Rosario,
Deadbeat,
The Cowsills,
The Smoke,
Ice-T,
Section 25,
Swell Maps,
Rapeman,
Fad Gadget,
The Motions,
In Retrospect,
Lalo Schifrin,
The Detroit Cobras,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Minor Threat,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
K-Klass,
The Raincoats,
Suburban Knight,
Maurizio,
Angry Samoans,
Bauhaus,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Roxette,
New Order,
Ituana,
Quando Quango,
Faust,
UT,
AZ,
James Chance & The Contortions,
June of 44,
The Gun Club,
R.M.O.,
Bobby Sherman,
Pulsallama,
Magazine,
Sam Rivers,
Stiv Bators,
Ken Boothe,
Intrusion,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Curtis Mayfield,
Tommy Roe,
Sun Ra,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Bob Dylan,
Pagans,
Swans,
Alison Limerick,
the Normal,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
E-Dancer,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Howard Jones,
Interpol,
The Buckinghams,
Cheater Slicks,
Negative Approach, Negative Approach, Negative Approach, Negative Approach.
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.