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 Barbados and from Lille.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1962 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 U.S. Maple to the grime 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 Stockholm Monsters. All the underground hits.
All Henry Cow tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rites of Spring 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Offenders record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Joensuu 1685,
David Axelrod,
Ultra Naté,
The Victims,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Matthew Halsall,
Bill Wells,
Loose Ends,
Neil Young,
Maurizio,
Clear Light,
Soulsonic Force,
Symarip,
Colin Newman,
New York Dolls,
Japan,
Mark Hollis,
Lightning Bolt,
Bronski Beat,
cv313,
The Fugs,
The Gladiators,
The Moleskins,
Dennis Brown,
Black Moon,
Andrew Hill,
Harpers Bizarre,
Lakeside,
Tropical Tobacco,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Buckinghams,
OOIOO,
Bob Dylan,
Niagra,
Donny Hathaway,
Robert Görl,
Dark Day,
Gong,
Animal Collective,
Jimmy McGriff,
Maleditus Sound,
Bad Manners,
The Slits,
Curtis Mayfield,
Khruangbin,
Rod Modell,
Guru Guru,
Scientists,
Sugar Minott,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Last Poets,
Soul Sonic Force,
Robert Hood,
Average White Band,
Minor Threat,
Lucky Dragons,
Gil Scott Heron,
Ronnie Foster,
Grauzone,
Main Source,
Traffic Nightmare,
Yazoo, Yazoo, Yazoo, Yazoo.
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.