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 Ivory Coast and from Lille.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1960 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Ultramagnetic MC's to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Sight & Sound. All the underground hits.
All The Cosmic Jokers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Adolescents record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ice-T record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bobbi Humphrey,
Lungfish,
Marmalade,
Brass Construction,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Pole,
Electric Prunes,
June Days,
Gang Starr,
Janne Schatter,
Fatback Band,
Drexciya,
Peter and Kerry,
The American Breed,
Patti Smith,
David Bowie,
David Axelrod,
Black Flag,
Marcia Griffiths,
Harmonia,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Mantronix,
Soul II Soul,
Reagan Youth,
Junior Murvin,
Roxy Music,
Johnny Clarke,
Jerry's Kids,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Jawbox,
Au Pairs,
Reuben Wilson,
Make Up,
Deakin,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Maurizio,
Neu!,
Radiohead,
Howard Jones,
Guru Guru,
Saccharine Trust,
Scrapy,
Ituana,
The Barracudas,
Crispian St. Peters,
Cluster,
The Toasters,
Albert Ayler,
Underground Resistance,
Terrestrial Tones,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Gang Gang Dance,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Pretty Things,
Jesper Dahlback,
Neil Young,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Raincoats, The Raincoats, The Raincoats, The Raincoats.
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.