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 Uruguay and from Spokane.
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 1969 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 harpsichord 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 Zeros to the grime kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Andrew Hill. All the underground hits.
All Metal Thangz 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 grime 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 snare and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a ABC record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gang of Four,
Funkadelic,
the Fania All-Stars,
Susan Cadogan,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Count Five,
La Düsseldorf,
The Seeds,
Scion,
The Index,
The Sonics,
Todd Terry,
Janne Schatter,
Lungfish,
The Vogues,
Amazonics,
Crime,
Marmalade,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Ossler,
CMW,
Mary Jane Girls,
UT,
Bobby Womack,
Visage,
James White and The Blacks,
Dawn Penn,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Danielle Patucci,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Stetsasonic,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Kinks,
Colin Newman,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
The Blues Magoos,
Cal Tjader,
Icehouse,
Scientists,
Von Mondo,
Aloha Tigers,
Arcadia,
Fugazi,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Metal Thangz,
Public Enemy,
Banda Bassotti,
New York Dolls,
MC5,
These Immortal Souls,
Groovy Waters,
Qualms,
Wasted Youth,
Sonny Sharrock,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
ABC,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Adolescents,
Tubeway Army, Tubeway Army, Tubeway Army, Tubeway Army.
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.