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 Austria and from Mexico City.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Buzzcocks show in Bolton.
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 1967 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 Captain Beefheart 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 OOIOO to the funk 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 Scrapy. All the underground hits.
All PIL tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Red Krayola 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Brand Nubian record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Stiv Bators,
These Immortal Souls,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Pylon,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Anthony Braxton,
The Shadows of Knight,
Malaria!,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Zapp,
Fela Kuti,
Jacques Brel,
Jesper Dahlback,
Yellowson,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Donny Hathaway,
Gang of Four,
Patti Smith,
Royal Trux,
Basic Channel,
Subhumans,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Rod Modell,
Kenny Larkin,
Arab on Radar,
June Days,
Cal Tjader,
Alton Ellis,
Lalo Schifrin,
Q and Not U,
Brick,
Black Flag,
Ituana,
U.S. Maple,
Nick Fraelich,
Scratch Acid,
Eric Dolphy,
Dark Day,
the Soft Cell,
Au Pairs,
The Doobie Brothers,
Boredoms,
The Vogues,
Icehouse,
Easy Going,
Jeru the Damaja,
Bootsy Collins,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Marmalade,
The Cowsills,
Shuggie Otis,
Ultimate Spinach,
Main Source,
Be Bop Deluxe,
DNA,
The Red Krayola,
Rites of Spring,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
The American Breed,
Big Daddy Kane,
Lindisfarne,
DJ Sneak,
Lou Christie, Lou Christie, Lou Christie, Lou Christie.
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.