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 Jamaica 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 1961 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 synthesizer 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 Pierre Henry to the dance 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 Scion. All the underground hits.
All The Selecter tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Barracudas record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a DJ Sneak record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Eve St. Jones,
Yaz,
The Smiths,
F. McDonald,
Michelle Simonal,
Peter and Kerry,
Joensuu 1685,
The Last Poets,
Cecil Taylor,
Youth Brigade,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Essential Logic,
Dennis Brown,
The Saints,
Aural Exciters,
Radiohead,
Popol Vuh,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Terry Callier,
Sister Nancy,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Index,
Trumans Water,
Sun Ra,
Franke,
Jandek,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Stockholm Monsters,
The Names,
Avey Tare,
Jeff Lynne,
Goldenarms,
Moby Grape,
Monolake,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Morten Harket,
Nik Kershaw,
Thee Headcoats,
Sällskapet,
Funkadelic,
The Fugs,
Porter Ricks,
Banda Bassotti,
Pierre Henry,
Harmonia,
Soul Sonic Force,
Sight & Sound,
Amon Düül II,
The Durutti Column,
Delta 5,
David Axelrod,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Lakeside,
Colin Newman,
Bob Dylan,
Mission of Burma,
The Standells,
Accadde A,
Cybotron, Cybotron, Cybotron, Cybotron.
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.