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 Turkmenistan and from Lille.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1963 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Mexico City.
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 synthesizer 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 Chrome to the funk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Wire. All the underground hits.
All Ultra Naté tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sparks 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
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 Chris & Cosey record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
ABBA,
Harmonia,
Flipper,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Radiohead,
The Knickerbockers,
Sam Rivers,
Echospace,
Television Personalities,
Roger Hodgson,
Funky Four + One,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Flesh Eaters,
Al Stewart,
Sun Ra,
Isaac Hayes,
Matthew Halsall,
Gong,
The Zeros,
Wolf Eyes,
Sugar Minott,
Youth Brigade,
Harry Pussy,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Buckinghams,
The Litter,
New Order,
The Sound,
MC5,
Q65,
Judy Mowatt,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Camouflage,
The Invisible,
The Dave Clark Five,
Porter Ricks,
Pierre Henry,
cv313,
Severed Heads,
the Soft Cell,
Erykah Badu,
Godley & Creme,
The Motions,
Section 25,
Byron Stingily,
The Birthday Party,
Kool Moe Dee,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
John Foxx,
Grauzone,
Jawbox,
Gil Scott Heron,
Flash Fearless,
Lucky Dragons,
Charles Mingus,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Pylon,
Liliput,
Connie Case,
Quando Quango, Quando Quango, Quando Quango, Quando Quango.
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.