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 Canada and from Bremen.
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 1969 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 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 Tim Buckley to the funk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Sonny Sharrock. All the underground hits.
All Grandmaster Flash tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Divine Comedy 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Sisters of Mercy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Yellowson,
The Fire Engines,
10cc,
Agitation Free,
Anthony Braxton,
Lalo Schifrin,
The Music Machine,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
June Days,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Black Moon,
The Fortunes,
B.T. Express,
cv313,
Stereo Dub,
Patti Smith,
The Count Five,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Pylon,
Prince Buster,
Absolute Body Control,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Camouflage,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Knickerbockers,
Sugar Minott,
Davy DMX,
Country Teasers,
8 Eyed Spy,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Urselle,
Brothers Johnson,
Fatback Band,
Glambeats Corp.,
Banda Bassotti,
U.S. Maple,
Pere Ubu,
David Bowie,
Grauzone,
Minnie Riperton,
L. Decosne,
Soulsonic Force,
Fear,
Iggy Pop,
Kayak,
The Evens,
Man Eating Sloth,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Ludus,
Bill Near,
MC5,
The New Christs,
Brass Construction,
Drexciya,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Althea and Donna,
The Mojo Men,
Rosa Yemen,
Public Enemy,
Pole,
Tubeway Army,
Black Bananas,
Eddi Front, Eddi Front, Eddi Front, Eddi Front.
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.