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 Cape Verde and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1963 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 Donald Fagen 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 the Sonics to the grunge 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 Sister Nancy. All the underground hits.
All Aswad tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nils Olav record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Oblivians record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gregory Isaacs,
Nico,
PIL,
Sun City Girls,
Joy Division,
Masters at Work,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Nirvana,
Jacob Miller,
Piero Umiliani,
The Music Machine,
Don Cherry,
The Standells,
The Neon Judgement,
Jeff Mills,
Youth Brigade,
F. McDonald,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Symarip,
Eric Copeland,
Sandy B,
Dead Boys,
The Residents,
Essential Logic,
The Human League,
LL Cool J,
Scan 7,
Joey Negro,
Public Enemy,
8 Eyed Spy,
The Fugs,
Y Pants,
Lindisfarne,
Kayak,
Bronski Beat,
Wasted Youth,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
DJ Sneak,
Soft Cell,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Erasure,
Kevin Saunderson,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Lalann,
Andrew Hill,
Index,
Banda Bassotti,
Wally Richardson,
ABBA,
X-Ray Spex,
The Five Americans,
Derrick Morgan,
Q65,
Organ,
Cluster,
Radiopuhelimet,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
The Buckinghams,
Morten Harket,
the Fania All-Stars,
A Certain Ratio,
Tim Buckley, Tim Buckley, Tim Buckley, Tim Buckley.
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.