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 Tajikistan and from London.
But I was there.
I was there in 1978.
I was there at the first Visage 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 1961 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 Lou Reed 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 Circle Jerks to the rap kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 The Mummies. All the underground hits.
All Danielle Patucci tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sonny Sharrock record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 guitar and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a These Immortal Souls record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
R.M.O.,
The Smiths,
Crash Course in Science,
the Association,
The Index,
Erykah Badu,
The Shadows of Knight,
Johnny Osbourne,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Last Poets,
Public Enemy,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Pierre Henry,
Angry Samoans,
MC5,
June Days,
Rakim,
Blancmange,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Knickerbockers,
Gregory Isaacs,
The Move,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Sex Pistols,
The American Breed,
Black Moon,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Eric Dolphy,
Cymande,
Whodini,
Anthony Braxton,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Shoche,
Magma,
John Holt,
Magazine,
Zero Boys,
Arthur Verocai,
The Smoke,
Trumans Water,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Liliput,
Lower 48,
K-Klass,
Von Mondo,
Scientists,
Sun City Girls,
The New Christs,
Thee Headcoats,
Gang of Four,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Fluxion,
Matthew Halsall,
Desert Stars,
Erasure,
Scan 7,
Sight & Sound,
Danielle Patucci,
Main Source,
Maurizio,
Kayak, Kayak, Kayak, Kayak.
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.