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 India and from Copenhagen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Junior Murvin to the dance 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 Gang Green. All the underground hits.
All Jandek tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Blossom Toes record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Man Parrish record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Saccharine Trust,
Wire,
Gong,
The Seeds,
the Normal,
Roxette,
Morten Harket,
The Sound,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Arcadia,
Bob Dylan,
Tommy Roe,
Blossom Toes,
Blake Baxter,
Kerrie Biddell,
The Victims,
Gang of Four,
Prince Buster,
In Retrospect,
Tim Buckley,
The Detroit Cobras,
Rosa Yemen,
Los Fastidios,
The Move,
Symarip,
Quando Quango,
Drexciya,
La Düsseldorf,
Pharoah Sanders,
Alice Coltrane,
Kenny Larkin,
Joy Division,
Connie Case,
Pere Ubu,
Sparks,
Mission of Burma,
Skaos,
Scientists,
Aural Exciters,
Whodini,
The Smiths,
Minnie Riperton,
Au Pairs,
Davy DMX,
Johnny Clarke,
The Monochrome Set,
Donald Byrd,
The Walker Brothers,
Ultra Naté,
Gil Scott Heron,
Tomorrow,
Kas Product,
Avey Tare,
Half Japanese,
Robert Wyatt,
Crooked Eye,
the Fania All-Stars,
Sex Pistols,
Darondo,
Intrusion,
Altered Images,
Skriet, Skriet, Skriet, Skriet.
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.