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 Congo and from Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1987.
I was there at the first Nirvana show in Seattle.
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 1962 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 synthesizer 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 The Mighty Diamonds to the rap 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 Sun Ra Arkestra. All the underground hits.
All Section 25 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every A Certain Ratio record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 spring reverb and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Radio Birdman record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
New Age Steppers,
The Smiths,
Adolescents,
Scientists,
Skaos,
Rosa Yemen,
Deakin,
Amon Düül,
Magma,
Dual Sessions,
Ponytail,
Joe Finger,
The United States of America,
James White and The Blacks,
Pussy Galore,
La Düsseldorf,
Simply Red,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
The Walker Brothers,
Colin Newman,
Crispy Ambulance,
the Human League,
LL Cool J,
Loose Ends,
Oneida,
Alison Limerick,
Henry Cow,
UT,
Electric Prunes,
Bobby Sherman,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Chris & Cosey,
Scion,
Lou Reed,
the Bar-Kays,
Con Funk Shun,
Nils Olav,
Sex Pistols,
The Mummies,
Dennis Brown,
The Monks,
Mark Hollis,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Gun Club,
Aaron Thompson,
Avey Tare,
The Trojans,
Boz Scaggs,
Aswad,
Robert Hood,
the Sonics,
Rhythm & Sound,
Traffic Nightmare,
Massinfluence,
Jerry Gold Smith,
the Slits,
Wasted Youth,
Audionom,
Soft Cell,
Accadde A, Accadde A, Accadde A, Accadde A.
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.