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 Malta and from Stockholm.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1966 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 marimba 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 Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 to the funk 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 Kayak. All the underground hits.
All Soulsonic Force tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Minny Pops 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Barbara Tucker record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Basic Channel,
Swell Maps,
Derrick Morgan,
K-Klass,
Roxette,
Barry Ungar,
OOIOO,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Echospace,
B.T. Express,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
the Slits,
Max Romeo,
Magazine,
Smog,
The Gun Club,
Brothers Johnson,
Donny Hathaway,
The Names,
48th St. Collective,
Grey Daturas,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Agitation Free,
The Trojans,
Tres Demented,
The Offenders,
The Mighty Diamonds,
The Saints,
Blossom Toes,
The Sonics,
The Cramps,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Lungfish,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Black Dice,
Robert Görl,
Lucky Dragons,
Absolute Body Control,
Main Source,
The Fortunes,
A Certain Ratio,
Wire,
Sun City Girls,
Sound Behaviour,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Soul II Soul,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Royal Trux,
F. McDonald,
FM Einheit,
Jandek,
Prince Buster,
Monolake,
Sister Nancy,
Iggy Pop,
The Durutti Column,
Gerry Rafferty,
Black Sheep,
Sugar Minott,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Johnny Clarke, Johnny Clarke, Johnny Clarke, Johnny Clarke.
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.