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 Micronesia and from Toronto.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Art of Noise show in London.
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 1965 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Unrelated Segments to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Mo-Dettes. All the underground hits.
All Cal Tjader tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Zapp 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Skriet record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Flipper,
the Swans,
Crooked Eye,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Robert Hood,
Lou Reed,
Judy Mowatt,
Parry Music,
Arthur Verocai,
The Residents,
Soul II Soul,
David McCallum,
Jeff Mills,
Ohio Players,
Arcadia,
The Buckinghams,
Bronski Beat,
Ultimate Spinach,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Cymande,
The Gun Club,
Isaac Hayes,
These Immortal Souls,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Sound Behaviour,
The Motions,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Gories,
Royal Trux,
the Human League,
Anthony Braxton,
Animal Collective,
Intrusion,
Ten City,
The Monks,
UT,
Gil Scott Heron,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Index,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Cheater Slicks,
The Doors,
B.T. Express,
Alton Ellis,
Nick Fraelich,
Sex Pistols,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
X-Ray Spex,
Lungfish,
Sight & Sound,
The Star Department,
Circle Jerks,
Model 500,
Rhythm & Sound,
Jimmy McGriff,
LL Cool J,
The Litter,
Harry Pussy,
DNA,
Lakeside,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Lyres,
Scientists, Scientists, Scientists, Scientists.
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.