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 Norway and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1967 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Basic Channel to the punk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Barracudas. All the underground hits.
All Alphaville tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Severed Heads 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 marimba and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Heaven 17 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Tom Boy,
E-Dancer,
John Coltrane,
Sugar Minott,
Eurythmics,
Idris Muhammad,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Jerry's Kids,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Davy DMX,
Rapeman,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Bobby Womack,
the Sonics,
Sonny Sharrock,
Marmalade,
Warren Ellis,
Henry Cow,
Todd Terry,
Black Sheep,
Jacques Brel,
The Last Poets,
Ludus,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Zeros,
Pussy Galore,
Whodini,
Magma,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Erasure,
Crooked Eye,
Ten City,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Tears for Fears,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Bronski Beat,
Groovy Waters,
Dawn Penn,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Amazonics,
Newcleus,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Young Rascals,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Charles Mingus,
the Fania All-Stars,
Gichy Dan,
Lou Christie,
Lindisfarne,
Avey Tare,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The Vogues,
Radiopuhelimet,
Archie Shepp,
Loose Ends,
Zero Boys,
LL Cool J,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Kenny Larkin,
China Crisis,
Rhythm & Sound, Rhythm & Sound, Rhythm & Sound, Rhythm & Sound.
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.