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 Rwanda and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1966 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Tehran.
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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Pantytec to the grime kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Alton Ellis. All the underground hits.
All Joensuu 1685 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Fall 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Victims record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Zapp,
Dual Sessions,
John Lydon,
The Star Department,
Audionom,
Lyres,
X-102,
David Bowie,
Franke,
Joe Finger,
The Doobie Brothers,
DJ Style,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Johnny Osbourne,
Drexciya,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Liliput,
Animal Collective,
Delon & Dalcan,
The Names,
the Association,
Tim Buckley,
The Alarm Clocks,
Bronski Beat,
La Düsseldorf,
Brick,
Cheater Slicks,
This Heat,
ABBA,
LL Cool J,
Bobby Byrd,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Velvet Underground,
Marshall Jefferson,
Quadrant,
Tom Boy,
Bootsy Collins,
Wire,
The Young Rascals,
Television Personalities,
F. McDonald,
Simply Red,
One Last Wish,
Roxy Music,
Juan Atkins,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Dave Gahan,
The Skatalites,
Grauzone,
the Fania All-Stars,
Severed Heads,
Essential Logic,
Brothers Johnson,
Darondo,
Skaos,
Barrington Levy,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Public Enemy,
The Happenings,
The Golliwogs,
X-Ray Spex,
cv313, cv313, cv313, cv313.
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.