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 Malaysia and from Edmonton.
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 1966 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 The Gap Band to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Reuben Wilson. All the underground hits.
All John Cale tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Second Layer record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Symarip record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pere Ubu,
Talk Talk,
Subhumans,
Black Bananas,
Aswad,
Dawn Penn,
Ken Boothe,
Nico,
Jandek,
Kenny Larkin,
The Divine Comedy,
Arcadia,
Tres Demented,
Whodini,
China Crisis,
Glambeats Corp.,
Moss Icon,
Unwound,
New Order,
Jeff Mills,
John Lydon,
Kerrie Biddell,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Alarm Clocks,
Eric Dolphy,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
The Cure,
The American Breed,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Camberwell Now,
The Kinks,
Harpers Bizarre,
Pulsallama,
Junior Murvin,
Robert Görl,
Sonic Youth,
Oblivians,
Black Moon,
The Slits,
Ohio Players,
The Velvet Underground,
Brick,
Soul II Soul,
Marc Almond,
Cameo,
La Düsseldorf,
Peter & Gordon,
New Age Steppers,
Yazoo,
Half Japanese,
Harmonia,
Rod Modell,
Desert Stars,
Scrapy,
Surgeon,
Dennis Brown,
Black Pus,
Deakin,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
The Gun Club,
Drive Like Jehu, Drive Like Jehu, Drive Like Jehu, Drive Like Jehu.
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.