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 Seychelles and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia 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 1968 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 The Music Machine to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Johnny Osbourne. All the underground hits.
All The Doors tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Magma 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Alphaville record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
John Coltrane,
Slick Rick,
Suburban Knight,
Severed Heads,
Sun Ra,
Terry Callier,
Ludus,
Glenn Branca,
Janne Schatter,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Stetsasonic,
Massinfluence,
Mantronix,
Connie Case,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Carl Craig,
Saccharine Trust,
Can,
The Techniques,
Lebanon Hanover,
Stereo Dub,
Yellowson,
Bizarre Inc.,
Das Ding,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
AZ,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Scan 7,
Ituana,
T.S.O.L.,
Joy Division,
Gregory Isaacs,
The Zeros,
Marc Almond,
Albert Ayler,
Harpers Bizarre,
Howard Jones,
Chrome,
Lou Christie,
Inner City,
Moby Grape,
Wolf Eyes,
Minor Threat,
Scott Walker,
The Slackers,
The Residents,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Dawn Penn,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Neil Young,
The Last Poets,
Girls At Our Best!,
a-ha,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Ponytail,
Hasil Adkins,
Aural Exciters,
The Neon Judgement, The Neon Judgement, The Neon Judgement, The Neon Judgement.
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.