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 St Kitts & Nevis and from Edmonton.
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 1969 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 güiro 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 Ossler to the rock kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Nation of Ulysses. All the underground hits.
All Red Lorry Yellow Lorry tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Tremeloes 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Young Marble Giants record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Offenders,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Infiniti,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Los Fastidios,
Hasil Adkins,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Lalo Schifrin,
Isaac Hayes,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Wolf Eyes,
Joy Division,
Harpers Bizarre,
Agitation Free,
Crispy Ambulance,
Rapeman,
Pet Shop Boys,
Nick Fraelich,
Sonic Youth,
Arcadia,
The Shadows of Knight,
Tubeway Army,
DJ Style,
Tom Boy,
Yaz,
The Red Krayola,
Ice-T,
Crooked Eye,
Country Joe & The Fish,
DJ Sneak,
Television,
Moebius,
Avey Tare,
Aural Exciters,
Letta Mbulu,
The Happenings,
The Last Poets,
Jeff Mills,
Alison Limerick,
Skarface,
The Trojans,
Monolake,
The Motions,
U.S. Maple,
Danielle Patucci,
Girls At Our Best!,
Bang On A Can,
Scan 7,
Spandau Ballet,
Sandy B,
Dark Day,
Throbbing Gristle,
Swans,
Urselle,
Adolescents,
Kool Moe Dee,
Mission of Burma,
Gang of Four,
Pharoah Sanders,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Japan,
The Blackbyrds,
The Music Machine, The Music Machine, The Music Machine, The Music Machine.
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.