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 Israel and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 Johannesburg and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the guitar 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 Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo to the rock 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 Pharoah Sanders. All the underground hits.
All Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lizzy Mercier Descloux record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Seeds record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Soul II Soul,
Chrome,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Zero Boys,
Ken Boothe,
Fatback Band,
Absolute Body Control,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Make Up,
Lou Reed,
The Doors,
The Techniques,
Panda Bear,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Camouflage,
Toni Rubio,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Shoche,
Dead Boys,
Swans,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Quadrant,
Youth Brigade,
James White and The Blacks,
Monks,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Arthur Verocai,
Isaac Hayes,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Marc Almond,
The United States of America,
The American Breed,
Stiv Bators,
LL Cool J,
Babytalk,
Faust,
Amon Düül,
Delon & Dalcan,
Groovy Waters,
Roger Hodgson,
Godley & Creme,
Pole,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
FM Einheit,
Idris Muhammad,
Bob Dylan,
Curtis Mayfield,
China Crisis,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Suburban Knight,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Barracudas,
Leonard Cohen,
Alton Ellis,
Mandrill,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Animal Collective,
Eric Dolphy,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Joensuu 1685,
Popol Vuh, Popol Vuh, Popol Vuh, Popol Vuh.
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.