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 Liechtenstein and from Lyon.
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 1961 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Kerri Chandler to the dance 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 Echo & the Bunnymen. All the underground hits.
All Khruangbin tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Tom Boy 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Soul Sonic Force record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Alarm Clocks,
Henry Cow,
Sexual Harrassment,
Symarip,
Massinfluence,
Unrelated Segments,
Basic Channel,
Eli Mardock,
Rhythm & Sound,
Tubeway Army,
Ken Boothe,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Warren Ellis,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
ABBA,
Soft Machine,
Flipper,
Fatback Band,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Japan,
Drive Like Jehu,
Pantytec,
Hoover,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
John Foxx,
Dual Sessions,
Desert Stars,
Sly & The Family Stone,
In Retrospect,
Joey Negro,
Deepchord,
Derrick May,
Gregory Isaacs,
Jeff Mills,
Flamin' Groovies,
Eden Ahbez,
Iggy Pop,
Bobby Womack,
The Five Americans,
The Sonics,
The Invisible,
Kerri Chandler,
Terry Callier,
Fela Kuti,
Television,
The Selecter,
Gong,
Eric Copeland,
Alison Limerick,
Joyce Sims,
Jacob Miller,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Newcleus,
Scion,
The Doobie Brothers,
Intrusion,
Danielle Patucci,
Rod Modell,
Smog,
Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis.
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.