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 Zimbabwe and from Copenhagen.
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 1965 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Kool Moe Dee 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 Patti Smith. All the underground hits.
All Underground Resistance tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rahsaan Roland Kirk record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Neil Young & Crazy Horse record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Godley & Creme,
Cal Tjader,
The Wake,
Terrestrial Tones,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Modern Lovers,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Radio Birdman,
The Mummies,
Reuben Wilson,
John Holt,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
cv313,
Yellowson,
June Days,
Iggy Pop,
Inner City,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Big Daddy Kane,
the Soft Cell,
Freddie Wadling,
This Heat,
Donald Byrd,
Sarah Menescal,
Yusef Lateef,
Bluetip,
Scott Walker,
Scion,
The Mojo Men,
Mary Jane Girls,
The Smiths,
Scrapy,
Traffic Nightmare,
Ultimate Spinach,
ABBA,
The Velvet Underground,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Stereo Dub,
Robert Wyatt,
Jeru the Damaja,
Prince Buster,
Babytalk,
Wasted Youth,
Bizarre Inc.,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Black Dice,
Negative Approach,
Ken Boothe,
Stockholm Monsters,
Tommy Roe,
Pharoah Sanders,
Aaron Thompson,
Dennis Brown,
Donny Hathaway,
Gerry Rafferty,
Wings,
Boredoms,
Brass Construction,
The Divine Comedy,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
A Flock of Seagulls,
The Dave Clark Five, The Dave Clark Five, The Dave Clark Five, The Dave Clark Five.
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.