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 Eritrea and from Copenhagen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Buzzcocks show in Bolton.
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 1965 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 snare 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 Beasts of Bourbon to the electroclash 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 Ituana. All the underground hits.
All Joey Negro tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Moody Blues 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Alison Limerick record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Soul II Soul,
New Age Steppers,
Chris Corsano,
Outsiders,
Whodini,
Johnny Clarke,
Duran Duran,
The Knickerbockers,
The Real Kids,
Soul Sonic Force,
Skarface,
Susan Cadogan,
Grauzone,
Harpers Bizarre,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Neil Young,
Bobby Sherman,
Groovy Waters,
Bobby Womack,
Agent Orange,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Cecil Taylor,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Bob Dylan,
The Slackers,
The Leaves,
Judy Mowatt,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Eli Mardock,
Rod Modell,
James White and The Blacks,
The Dead C,
Monks,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Heaven 17,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Stooges,
Skriet,
The Doobie Brothers,
Charles Mingus,
Drive Like Jehu,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Spandau Ballet,
Camberwell Now,
Terrestrial Tones,
Letta Mbulu,
Black Flag,
Ice-T,
The Divine Comedy,
The Pretty Things,
The New Christs,
The Kinks,
The Techniques,
Simply Red,
The Litter,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Wasted Youth,
Reuben Wilson,
Stiv Bators,
Brothers Johnson,
T.S.O.L.,
Hardrive,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Von Mondo, Von Mondo, Von Mondo, Von Mondo.
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.