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 St Lucia and from Sao Paulo.
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 1965 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City 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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Cymande to the punk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Bauhaus. All the underground hits.
All Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mark Hollis record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 spring reverb and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Knickerbockers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Pantaleimon,
The Wake,
DJ Style,
Roxette,
Anakelly,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Sonny Sharrock,
Tres Demented,
The Evens,
Rotary Connection,
Harmonia,
Quando Quango,
The Toasters,
Simply Red,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Grey Daturas,
Colin Newman,
Barclay James Harvest,
T. Rex,
Banda Bassotti,
Connie Case,
Fad Gadget,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Associates,
The Litter,
Massinfluence,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Reagan Youth,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
New Order,
Q65,
Popol Vuh,
Sun Ra,
Michelle Simonal,
The Alarm Clocks,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Goldenarms,
Barbara Tucker,
This Heat,
X-Ray Spex,
Chris & Cosey,
Max Romeo,
The Real Kids,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Shoche,
Khruangbin,
The Velvet Underground,
The Fall,
CMW,
Outsiders,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Byron Stingily,
AZ,
The Dave Clark Five,
John Lydon,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Josef K,
Boredoms,
FM Einheit,
Man Eating Sloth,
Brothers Johnson,
Bad Manners, Bad Manners, Bad Manners, Bad Manners.
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.