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 Sweden and from Spokane.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1964 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Tehran.
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 1978 at the first Visage practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Angry Samoans to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Curtis Mayfield. All the underground hits.
All Darondo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nirvana record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 808 and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Freddie Wadling record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Saccharine Trust,
ABBA,
Nils Olav,
Laurel Aitken,
Moebius,
Juan Atkins,
Lindisfarne,
The Kinks,
Jerry's Kids,
Scott Walker,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Slits,
Talk Talk,
Johnny Osbourne,
Joey Negro,
Harmonia,
Sister Nancy,
Cluster,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Pharoah Sanders,
Rosa Yemen,
Brass Construction,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Matthew Halsall,
Grauzone,
Connie Case,
F. McDonald,
Kerrie Biddell,
Ohio Players,
Robert Görl,
Warren Ellis,
Tears for Fears,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Girls At Our Best!,
Circle Jerks,
Second Layer,
Section 25,
Panda Bear,
the Human League,
Gong,
Darondo,
Jacob Miller,
Qualms,
Bob Dylan,
Quando Quango,
The Martian,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Fela Kuti,
Pantaleimon,
Pole,
Babytalk,
Au Pairs,
David Bowie,
Dorothy Ashby,
Al Stewart,
Wings,
Groovy Waters,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
kango's stein massive, kango's stein massive, kango's stein massive, kango's stein massive.
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.