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 Qatar and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1962 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 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 Television to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Eve St. Jones. All the underground hits.
All Peter & Gordon tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Aloha Tigers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bob Dylan record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Move,
Dennis Brown,
Qualms,
Stereo Dub,
Symarip,
EPMD,
Donald Byrd,
Monolake,
The Birthday Party,
Juan Atkins,
the Soft Cell,
Gang Starr,
Thompson Twins,
Skarface,
Marc Almond,
Suburban Knight,
Fela Kuti,
Soulsonic Force,
Brand Nubian,
Matthew Bourne,
Average White Band,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Kayak,
Cheater Slicks,
The Martian,
New Order,
Magma,
the Normal,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Smog,
Lou Christie,
Crispian St. Peters,
Tomorrow,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Human League,
Bootsy Collins,
The Black Dice,
Faraquet,
Cybotron,
Prince Buster,
The Grass Roots,
The Flesh Eaters,
James White and The Blacks,
Nirvana,
Pussy Galore,
Unrelated Segments,
Hardrive,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Hoover,
The Slits,
Mad Mike,
Pere Ubu,
Steve Hackett,
The Alarm Clocks,
Bobby Byrd,
Intrusion,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
It's A Beautiful Day,
Ponytail,
Blossom Toes,
Surgeon,
Ultimate Spinach, Ultimate Spinach, Ultimate Spinach, Ultimate Spinach.
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.