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 Taiwan and from Glasgow.
But I was there.
I was there in 1978.
I was there at the first Visage show in 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 1969 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Tehran.
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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Main Source to the punk 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 Con Funk Shun. All the underground hits.
All Absolute Body Control tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Junior Murvin record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a London Community Gospel Choir record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Shuggie Otis,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Connie Case,
the Soft Cell,
Subhumans,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Panda Bear,
kango's stein massive,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
R.M.O.,
Young Marble Giants,
the Association,
B.T. Express,
Rapeman,
Sonic Youth,
Marcia Griffiths,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Organ,
Black Bananas,
New York Dolls,
Graham Central Station,
Ash Ra Tempel,
LL Cool J,
Y Pants,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Charles Mingus,
Monks,
Sun Ra,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
The Remains,
Pierre Henry,
Eric Dolphy,
The Misunderstood,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
the Normal,
Minnie Riperton,
Khruangbin,
FM Einheit,
Slave,
Fatback Band,
X-102,
Harpers Bizarre,
Rakim,
Black Moon,
Camberwell Now,
Marmalade,
Josef K,
Todd Terry,
The Black Dice,
Jacob Miller,
Buzzcocks,
The Leaves,
Nils Olav,
Rosa Yemen,
Joensuu 1685,
The Mummies,
Godley & Creme,
Soul Sonic Force,
Can,
World's Most,
The Real Kids, The Real Kids, The Real Kids, The Real Kids.
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.