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 Mexico and from Stockholm.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1960 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Mo-Dettes to the funk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Bronski Beat. All the underground hits.
All Gil Scott Heron tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Boogie Down Productions 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Country Joe & The Fish record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
John Lydon,
Marmalade,
The Human League,
The Red Krayola,
Pulsallama,
The Zeros,
Skriet,
Juan Atkins,
Flash Fearless,
Fad Gadget,
Barry Ungar,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Banda Bassotti,
Fugazi,
Quando Quango,
Echospace,
Cecil Taylor,
Black Pus,
Mark Hollis,
Sarah Menescal,
Supertramp,
Davy DMX,
Section 25,
The Residents,
Joy Division,
John Holt,
The Sound,
Inner City,
June of 44,
Joensuu 1685,
The New Christs,
Janne Schatter,
The Seeds,
Laurel Aitken,
Girls At Our Best!,
Blossom Toes,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Byron Stingily,
The Vogues,
Ponytail,
Ohio Players,
Barclay James Harvest,
Metal Thangz,
Kerri Chandler,
The Trojans,
The Durutti Column,
Josef K,
Alton Ellis,
Sound Behaviour,
Groovy Waters,
Peter and Kerry,
Sonic Youth,
Isaac Hayes,
Throbbing Gristle,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Music Machine,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Real Kids,
Wings,
Reuben Wilson,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Television Personalities,
Colin Newman, Colin Newman, Colin Newman, Colin Newman.
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.