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 Belgium and from Glasgow.
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 1962 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1968 at the first Can practice in a loft in Cologne.
I was working on the sitar 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 The Monochrome Set to the jazz 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 Bob Dylan. All the underground hits.
All John Holt tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Subhumans record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Malaria! record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Deakin,
Barbara Tucker,
Robert Wyatt,
Kurtis Blow,
Niagra,
Aural Exciters,
The Raincoats,
Stockholm Monsters,
Derrick Morgan,
Eurythmics,
Marcia Griffiths,
Johnny Clarke,
Moss Icon,
Excepter,
June Days,
Rekid,
Black Flag,
Dorothy Ashby,
Gong,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Byron Stingily,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Saccharine Trust,
Malaria!,
U.S. Maple,
Groovy Waters,
Gregory Isaacs,
Alice Coltrane,
The Sonics,
Bill Near,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Soft Cell,
Rhythm & Sound,
Slave,
Throbbing Gristle,
Tommy Roe,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Lyres,
Das Ding,
Joy Division,
Jerry's Kids,
John Holt,
Heaven 17,
PIL,
Babytalk,
The Gun Club,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Harmonia,
Bluetip,
Al Stewart,
Mantronix,
Quando Quango,
Scott Walker,
Joyce Sims,
Mo-Dettes,
Sun City Girls,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Jeff Mills,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Young Marble Giants,
Robert Görl,
Junior Murvin,
Barrington Levy, Barrington Levy, Barrington Levy, Barrington Levy.
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.