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 Gambia and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1968 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 synthesizer 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 John Lydon to the techno kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Clear Light. All the underground hits.
All The Gladiators tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every DNA record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 sitar and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Leonard Cohen record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Brass Construction,
Model 500,
Intrusion,
Brothers Johnson,
Bluetip,
Guru Guru,
The Gladiators,
Black Sheep,
The Fire Engines,
The Trojans,
Surgeon,
Radio Birdman,
Neu!,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Gang Gang Dance,
Joensuu 1685,
Fatback Band,
The Angels of Light,
Inner City,
Lindisfarne,
Terry Callier,
Mr. Review,
The Vogues,
China Crisis,
Lalo Schifrin,
Boogie Down Productions,
the Soft Cell,
AZ,
Brand Nubian,
Kenny Larkin,
The Blues Magoos,
Marvin Gaye,
Eric Copeland,
Duran Duran,
Rapeman,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Drive Like Jehu,
Clear Light,
Au Pairs,
Susan Cadogan,
The Velvet Underground,
Slick Rick,
Motorama,
The Black Dice,
Ronnie Foster,
Barrington Levy,
Khruangbin,
Sonny Sharrock,
Can,
OOIOO,
Connie Case,
Robert Görl,
This Heat,
Glambeats Corp.,
The Mojo Men,
Lightning Bolt,
Pere Ubu,
Wally Richardson,
The New Christs,
Drexciya,
Bobby Womack,
Maleditus Sound,
The Raincoats,
Simply Red,
Byron Stingily, Byron Stingily, Byron Stingily, Byron Stingily.
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.