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 Jordan and from Mexico City.
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 1961 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City 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 arpeggiator 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 The Human League to the rock kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Zapp. All the underground hits.
All Scrapy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every New Order record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Soul Sonic Force record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Girls At Our Best!,
Black Flag,
T.S.O.L.,
Malaria!,
Stiv Bators,
Von Mondo,
Stockholm Monsters,
Sarah Menescal,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Henry Cow,
Quadrant,
10cc,
The Monochrome Set,
Idris Muhammad,
The Standells,
Skriet,
Bush Tetras,
The Monks,
The Dirtbombs,
ABBA,
Ultravox,
Pet Shop Boys,
Anakelly,
Sight & Sound,
Terry Callier,
Harmonia,
The Sonics,
Livin' Joy,
Kayak,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Cecil Taylor,
Urselle,
Glenn Branca,
Quantec,
Dawn Penn,
The Slits,
Lee Hazlewood,
Adolescents,
Chrome,
Blossom Toes,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Terrestrial Tones,
Archie Shepp,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
FM Einheit,
The Dead C,
Grauzone,
Pantytec,
Ash Ra Tempel,
the Swans,
Essential Logic,
Eve St. Jones,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Aloha Tigers,
Robert Görl,
Desert Stars,
The Real Kids,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Crispy Ambulance,
Mark Hollis,
The Gladiators, The Gladiators, The Gladiators, The Gladiators.
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.