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 Kyrgyzstan and from Halifax.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle 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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 Robert Palmer 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 Accadde A to the grunge 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 Fluxion. All the underground hits.
All Khruangbin tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Pop Group record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Misunderstood,
Al Stewart,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Velvet Underground,
Hoover,
Rufus Thomas,
Tom Boy,
Funky Four + One,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Nation of Ulysses,
Lalann,
Arthur Verocai,
Y Pants,
The Angels of Light,
John Coltrane,
Marvin Gaye,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Ultravox,
This Heat,
Interpol,
the Bar-Kays,
Kaleidoscope,
Masters at Work,
The Monochrome Set,
kango's stein massive,
Das Ding,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Sound Behaviour,
Moss Icon,
Alice Coltrane,
The Standells,
Negative Approach,
Marcia Griffiths,
the Soft Cell,
Chris Corsano,
Siglo XX,
Tomorrow,
Avey Tare,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
The Motions,
Marine Girls,
Can,
The Count Five,
Scrapy,
Fort Wilson Riot,
New York Dolls,
U.S. Maple,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Metal Thangz,
John Holt,
Gang Starr,
The Divine Comedy,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Jacques Brel,
Panda Bear,
Shuggie Otis,
Moby Grape,
Silicon Teens,
Eric Dolphy,
Blossom Toes, Blossom Toes, Blossom Toes, Blossom Toes.
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.