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 Argentina and from Halifax.
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 1965 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Ituana to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Bobby Byrd. All the underground hits.
All Bobby Womack tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Slick Rick record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 808 and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Morten Harket record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Slave,
Rotary Connection,
China Crisis,
Swans,
Lalo Schifrin,
Vladislav Delay,
Technova,
Gregory Isaacs,
Sandy B,
Sexual Harrassment,
Electric Prunes,
Alphaville,
Subhumans,
Faust,
Newcleus,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
PIL,
Tommy Roe,
Matthew Bourne,
Flipper,
Scan 7,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Deadbeat,
Michelle Simonal,
Wolf Eyes,
Arthur Verocai,
Funky Four + One,
CMW,
Albert Ayler,
The Buckinghams,
Duran Duran,
Soft Machine,
Altered Images,
Max Romeo,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Supertramp,
the Normal,
One Last Wish,
Joy Division,
Crooked Eye,
Con Funk Shun,
Sonic Youth,
Scion,
Hasil Adkins,
Joensuu 1685,
Unrelated Segments,
Man Parrish,
The Vogues,
Sight & Sound,
Section 25,
Brand Nubian,
Adolescents,
Oblivians,
Bill Near,
The Smiths,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Sun Ra,
Bad Manners,
Isaac Hayes,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Jacques Brel,
Eli Mardock, Eli Mardock, Eli Mardock, Eli Mardock.
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.