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 Iraq and from Winnipeg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1973.
I was there at the first Television show in New York.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Glasgow.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 American Breed to the techno kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Martian. All the underground hits.
All Bad Manners tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Howard Jones record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Drive Like Jehu record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
UT,
Mark Hollis,
Junior Murvin,
Pere Ubu,
Deepchord,
Fad Gadget,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Kayak,
Gang Green,
Outsiders,
Wasted Youth,
The Doobie Brothers,
Flamin' Groovies,
Barclay James Harvest,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
X-101,
Quadrant,
Skaos,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Bauhaus,
Nico,
Average White Band,
The Slits,
Donny Hathaway,
Joensuu 1685,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Monolake,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Japan,
Model 500,
Q65,
Lou Reed,
Ronan,
Von Mondo,
Boogie Down Productions,
Mandrill,
Sarah Menescal,
Liliput,
Depeche Mode,
The Victims,
The Black Dice,
Alice Coltrane,
Gil Scott Heron,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Sonic Youth,
Radiohead,
Faust,
Ralphi Rosario,
Sun City Girls,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Ultimate Spinach,
John Foxx,
Tim Buckley,
Laurel Aitken,
Quando Quango,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Kaleidoscope,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Todd Terry,
Crime,
Joy Division, Joy Division, Joy Division, Joy Division.
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.