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 Italy and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1961 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 guitar 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 Liaisons Dangereuses to the disco kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Subhumans. All the underground hits.
All John Coltrane tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Kinks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Angels of Light & Akron/Family record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Soul II Soul,
Procol Harum,
Suburban Knight,
The Techniques,
Crispy Ambulance,
The American Breed,
Jeru the Damaja,
Mary Jane Girls,
Andrew Hill,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
A Certain Ratio,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Pet Shop Boys,
Gang Starr,
Michelle Simonal,
Albert Ayler,
Black Moon,
Pierre Henry,
Alton Ellis,
Davy DMX,
Wasted Youth,
Brick,
Groovy Waters,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Don Cherry,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Joy Division,
Iggy Pop,
The Count Five,
Qualms,
Roy Ayers,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
The Raincoats,
David Axelrod,
Subhumans,
Swans,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Young Rascals,
B.T. Express,
JFA,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Crime,
Shuggie Otis,
Ludus,
K-Klass,
Eurythmics,
The Stooges,
Buzzcocks,
the Soft Cell,
Japan,
MDC,
Simply Red,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Make Up,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Durutti Column,
Livin' Joy,
Bill Wells,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Sam Rivers, Sam Rivers, Sam Rivers, Sam Rivers.
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.