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 Antigua and from Manila.
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 1966 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 1976 at the first Buzzcocks practice in a loft in Bolton.
I was working on the guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Peanut Butter Conspiracy to the punk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell. All the underground hits.
All Isaac Hayes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ronnie Foster record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ultra Naté record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Young Marble Giants,
Tim Buckley,
Sound Behaviour,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Shoche,
The Angels of Light,
Pagans,
The Move,
John Cale,
Skarface,
Dave Gahan,
Pulsallama,
Mantronix,
Half Japanese,
Joey Negro,
Television,
Delta 5,
Ultra Naté,
Curtis Mayfield,
Barclay James Harvest,
The Gap Band,
Icehouse,
Shuggie Otis,
Hasil Adkins,
Outsiders,
Howard Jones,
Michelle Simonal,
Colin Newman,
Neu!,
Groovy Waters,
Marmalade,
Bizarre Inc.,
8 Eyed Spy,
The Saints,
Slave,
Public Enemy,
Easy Going,
Gabor Szabo,
Faust,
FM Einheit,
The Searchers,
Franke,
Fluxion,
Harpers Bizarre,
Minor Threat,
Oneida,
Scrapy,
Harmonia,
Spoonie Gee,
LL Cool J,
The Monochrome Set,
MC5,
Throbbing Gristle,
The Skatalites,
Jerry's Kids,
Essential Logic,
Byron Stingily,
Eve St. Jones,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Eric B and Rakim,
Brass Construction,
Mad Mike, Mad Mike, Mad Mike, Mad Mike.
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.