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 Pakistan and from Bologna.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle 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 1968 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Groovy Waters to the rap kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Reuben Wilson. All the underground hits.
All Gichy Dan tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Dead C record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Warren Ellis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Oneida,
Gang Green,
Bronski Beat,
Tubeway Army,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Animal Collective,
Todd Rundgren,
Nation of Ulysses,
Dark Day,
Theoretical Girls,
Rapeman,
Donny Hathaway,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Moby Grape,
Susan Cadogan,
Talk Talk,
Monolake,
The Smiths,
Kaleidoscope,
Yazoo,
Deakin,
The Zeros,
Mandrill,
The Grass Roots,
Barbara Tucker,
Arcadia,
New Order,
Henry Cow,
Soulsonic Force,
Crispy Ambulance,
Judy Mowatt,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Vogues,
The Moleskins,
Gong,
Wings,
Adolescents,
Nils Olav,
Technova,
MC5,
Fela Kuti,
Curtis Mayfield,
Schoolly D,
Scott Walker,
Visage,
E-Dancer,
Outsiders,
Scratch Acid,
Man Eating Sloth,
Roxy Music,
Harry Pussy,
Donald Byrd,
Trumans Water,
Ice-T,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
James White and The Blacks,
Flamin' Groovies,
The Human League,
Echospace,
Funkadelic,
Stiv Bators, Stiv Bators, Stiv Bators, Stiv Bators.
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.