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 Cuba and from Shanghai.
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 1960 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 Holger Czukay 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 Lungfish to the crunk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 the Association. All the underground hits.
All The Dave Clark Five tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Whodini 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Eric Dolphy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Soft Cell,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Gichy Dan,
Josef K,
The Sound,
The J.B.'s,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Yaz,
Q and Not U,
Skriet,
D'Angelo,
Sound Behaviour,
F. McDonald,
the Human League,
Susan Cadogan,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Idris Muhammad,
Ohio Players,
Japan,
Gerry Rafferty,
the Germs,
Funky Four + One,
Jerry's Kids,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Vladislav Delay,
Spoonie Gee,
Throbbing Gristle,
Nirvana,
Bad Manners,
Wire,
Pharoah Sanders,
Kerrie Biddell,
Freddie Wadling,
Todd Terry,
Eric Copeland,
The Knickerbockers,
Audionom,
Pylon,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Pierre Henry,
Albert Ayler,
The Sisters of Mercy,
AZ,
Tommy Roe,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Gregory Isaacs,
Section 25,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
New Order,
Ultravox,
Peter & Gordon,
Eve St. Jones,
The Moody Blues,
Althea and Donna,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Pussy Galore,
Wasted Youth,
John Lydon,
The Smiths,
Yellowson,
June Days,
Sonny Sharrock, Sonny Sharrock, Sonny Sharrock, Sonny Sharrock.
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.