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 Tonga and from Jakarta.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 Holger Czukay 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 Dark Day to the punk 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 The Mighty Diamonds. All the underground hits.
All The Blackbyrds tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Red Lorry Yellow Lorry record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gang Gang Dance record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Techniques,
Bauhaus,
Barbara Tucker,
Donny Hathaway,
Malaria!,
Radiohead,
The Human League,
Nas,
DJ Sneak,
Graham Central Station,
Young Marble Giants,
Whodini,
The Pretty Things,
Moebius,
the Swans,
H. Thieme,
Mission of Burma,
Matthew Bourne,
Crispy Ambulance,
X-101,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
The Mojo Men,
Alton Ellis,
Marine Girls,
Khruangbin,
The Dave Clark Five,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
John Coltrane,
48th St. Collective,
Vainqueur,
Faraquet,
The Count Five,
The Wake,
Charles Mingus,
Metal Thangz,
Easy Going,
Traffic Nightmare,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Barrington Levy,
Reuben Wilson,
Sugar Minott,
Subhumans,
Nik Kershaw,
Oblivians,
Schoolly D,
Zapp,
In Retrospect,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Steve Hackett,
The Smoke,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Q and Not U,
Bobby Byrd,
Minutemen,
Minny Pops,
Chrome,
Youth Brigade,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Johnny Osbourne,
Eurythmics,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
X-Ray Spex, X-Ray Spex, X-Ray Spex, X-Ray Spex.
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.