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 East Timor and from London.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia 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 1963 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 The Wake to the punk 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 A Certain Ratio. All the underground hits.
All Tim Buckley 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 dance 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 an organ and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ludus record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bronski Beat,
The Evens,
Stockholm Monsters,
R.M.O.,
In Retrospect,
The Residents,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Slick Rick,
Amon Düül II,
Ralphi Rosario,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Icehouse,
Delon & Dalcan,
Jimmy McGriff,
Infiniti,
JFA,
Kurtis Blow,
Japan,
The Misunderstood,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Rites of Spring,
Jandek,
Goldenarms,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Judy Mowatt,
The Motions,
Little Man,
The Music Machine,
Letta Mbulu,
Soul II Soul,
The Standells,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Crime,
Ultra Naté,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Joyce Sims,
John Coltrane,
Suicide,
Henry Cow,
Sugar Minott,
Mars,
The Kinks,
Marvin Gaye,
Barrington Levy,
The Flesh Eaters,
Godley & Creme,
Television Personalities,
The United States of America,
Anthony Braxton,
Rhythm & Sound,
Glenn Branca,
Youth Brigade,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Steve Hackett,
Bobby Sherman,
Robert Görl,
Main Source,
Excepter,
Joey Negro,
David McCallum, David McCallum, David McCallum, David McCallum.
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.