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 Nauru and from Spokane.
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 1966 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 linndrum 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 Jimmy McGriff to the funk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 The J.B.'s. All the underground hits.
All Erasure tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Young Marble Giants record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 sitar and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Youth Brigade,
Outsiders,
Scratch Acid,
Silicon Teens,
John Coltrane,
John Foxx,
Jandek,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Ossler,
Kool Moe Dee,
Chrome,
The Durutti Column,
Warsaw,
Wasted Youth,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Dennis Brown,
LL Cool J,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Q65,
CMW,
Toni Rubio,
Idris Muhammad,
The Velvet Underground,
Robert Hood,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Rosa Yemen,
This Heat,
Warren Ellis,
James White and The Blacks,
The Detroit Cobras,
the Fania All-Stars,
Michelle Simonal,
The Litter,
Don Cherry,
a-ha,
The Kinks,
The Vogues,
Ultra Naté,
Dawn Penn,
The Angels of Light,
The American Breed,
Sam Rivers,
Godley & Creme,
La Düsseldorf,
Wings,
Arthur Verocai,
Loose Ends,
Ludus,
Fad Gadget,
Sixth Finger,
Drexciya,
Wally Richardson,
Howard Jones,
Cymande,
The Cure,
Letta Mbulu,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Mark Hollis,
Khruangbin,
Jimmy McGriff,
Young Marble Giants, Young Marble Giants, Young Marble Giants, Young Marble Giants.
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.