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 Malta and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1966 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Joensuu 1685 to the grime kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Gang Gang Dance. All the underground hits.
All DJ Sneak tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Alton Ellis 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rotary Connection record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Joey Negro,
Malaria!,
Adolescents,
The Divine Comedy,
Davy DMX,
Interpol,
R.M.O.,
Sarah Menescal,
Junior Murvin,
Sällskapet,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
UT,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Neil Young,
Sunsets and Hearts,
LL Cool J,
Tommy Roe,
Eurythmics,
Blake Baxter,
The Detroit Cobras,
Can,
Dual Sessions,
Bronski Beat,
Theoretical Girls,
Little Man,
Black Pus,
The Doors,
Dorothy Ashby,
Siglo XX,
Dead Boys,
Lower 48,
Marmalade,
Joensuu 1685,
Essential Logic,
Roy Ayers,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Misunderstood,
Moebius,
The Angels of Light,
Mo-Dettes,
Newcleus,
Patti Smith,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
New Order,
Amon Düül II,
the Slits,
Shoche,
Fugazi,
The Standells,
Lou Reed,
Cal Tjader,
Urselle,
Moss Icon,
Unrelated Segments,
Rakim,
Nik Kershaw,
Ultimate Spinach,
Half Japanese,
Piero Umiliani,
Intrusion,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Alphaville,
Supertramp, Supertramp, Supertramp, Supertramp.
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.