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 Bulgaria and from Milan.
But I was there.
I was there in 2001.
I was there at the first Tiga show in Montreal.
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 1969 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Barbara Tucker to the grunge 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 Hasil Adkins. All the underground hits.
All Youth Brigade tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Wally Richardson record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Country Teasers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Mummies,
Gang of Four,
Model 500,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Cluster,
Neil Young,
The Dave Clark Five,
Eurythmics,
Audionom,
U.S. Maple,
Alphaville,
Spoonie Gee,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Barclay James Harvest,
Excepter,
Accadde A,
Bootsy Collins,
Sixth Finger,
The Alarm Clocks,
10cc,
Quando Quango,
The Kinks,
Saccharine Trust,
Erykah Badu,
Mantronix,
Tears for Fears,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Chris & Cosey,
Marc Almond,
Roger Hodgson,
The Knickerbockers,
DJ Style,
Man Eating Sloth,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Mo-Dettes,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Television Personalities,
Crooked Eye,
The Slits,
Amazonics,
Piero Umiliani,
Frankie Knuckles,
Crime,
The Blackbyrds,
Depeche Mode,
New Age Steppers,
The Star Department,
Grandmaster Flash,
Peter and Kerry,
Circle Jerks,
Todd Terry,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
8 Eyed Spy,
Avey Tare,
John Holt,
The Human League,
Prince Buster,
Gang Green,
Sun Ra,
Eric B and Rakim,
Zero Boys,
Agitation Free,
PIL, PIL, PIL, PIL.
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.