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 Tajikistan and from Manila.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1961 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Darondo to the techno kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Lakeside. All the underground hits.
All Rapeman tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lou Reed & John Cale 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Cosmic Jokers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gang of Four,
The Invisible,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Toasters,
Talk Talk,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Procol Harum,
Cheater Slicks,
Cecil Taylor,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Judy Mowatt,
Interpol,
The Last Poets,
The Martian,
Isaac Hayes,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Pet Shop Boys,
Jacob Miller,
Scientists,
Pagans,
Joy Division,
The Misunderstood,
Morten Harket,
Cluster,
The Black Dice,
Radiopuhelimet,
The Gladiators,
Throbbing Gristle,
Heaven 17,
The Tremeloes,
Joe Finger,
A Flock of Seagulls,
The Fugs,
Max Romeo,
8 Eyed Spy,
B.T. Express,
Pole,
Basic Channel,
Robert Hood,
The Mummies,
The Associates,
Moby Grape,
Livin' Joy,
Ultra Naté,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Bobby Womack,
China Crisis,
Nirvana,
The Fall,
Unrelated Segments,
Deakin,
Neil Young,
Tommy Roe,
The Electric Prunes,
The Victims,
Roy Ayers,
The Pop Group,
Adolescents,
T. Rex,
John Lydon,
Qualms,
Kaleidoscope,
Erasure,
Sonic Youth, Sonic Youth, Sonic Youth, Sonic Youth.
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.