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 Uganda and from Paris.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1966 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Joy Division to the disco kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Jawbox. All the underground hits.
All Jimmy McGriff tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sexual Harrassment record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 linndrum and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Guru Guru record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Robert Hood,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Urselle,
John Cale,
10cc,
Rod Modell,
T.S.O.L.,
Lalo Schifrin,
Model 500,
The Skatalites,
Tres Demented,
June Days,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Loose Ends,
Suicide,
The Litter,
Swans,
The Music Machine,
LL Cool J,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Bootsy Collins,
Organ,
Hashim,
Jeru the Damaja,
Ultravox,
Bizarre Inc.,
Marshall Jefferson,
Scientists,
These Immortal Souls,
The Gun Club,
Howard Jones,
Gang of Four,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Kerrie Biddell,
Sound Behaviour,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Arcadia,
Wasted Youth,
Agitation Free,
Slick Rick,
Quando Quango,
The Sound,
The Cowsills,
Ronnie Foster,
Vainqueur,
Ohio Players,
Cymande,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Heaven 17,
Judy Mowatt,
The Saints,
Easy Going,
Symarip,
Adolescents,
Lower 48,
Smog,
The Barracudas,
Fad Gadget,
Icehouse,
Donny Hathaway,
Radio Birdman,
Zero Boys,
Glenn Branca,
Spandau Ballet, Spandau Ballet, Spandau Ballet, Spandau Ballet.
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.