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 St Kitts & Nevis and from Edmonton.
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 1968 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1978 at the first Visage practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the güiro 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 The Seeds to the disco kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme. All the underground hits.
All Au Pairs tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pantytec record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Harpers Bizarre record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
James Chance & The Contortions,
Gil Scott Heron,
Masters at Work,
The Toasters,
the Sonics,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Sonics,
Roxy Music,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Jeff Lynne,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
The Leaves,
U.S. Maple,
L. Decosne,
Rapeman,
Harry Pussy,
Boz Scaggs,
Eddi Front,
Bush Tetras,
Rakim,
Chrome,
Spandau Ballet,
Pagans,
T. Rex,
Lou Christie,
Danielle Patucci,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Aural Exciters,
Organ,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Soul II Soul,
Sun Ra,
Idris Muhammad,
Ken Boothe,
Yaz,
Television Personalities,
Arab on Radar,
Silicon Teens,
Black Moon,
Black Bananas,
The Selecter,
Toni Rubio,
the Swans,
Massinfluence,
Grandmaster Flash,
Cal Tjader,
Max Romeo,
Pole,
Dave Gahan,
Half Japanese,
Todd Rundgren,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Qualms,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
The Walker Brothers,
Los Fastidios,
Sarah Menescal,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Bootsy Collins,
The Cramps, The Cramps, The Cramps, The Cramps.
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.