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 St Kitts & Nevis and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1964 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 oboe 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 Aural Exciters to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Lafayette Afro Rock Band. All the underground hits.
All Jacob Miller tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Raincoats record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Richard Hell and the Voidoids record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
This Heat,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Sandy B,
Matthew Halsall,
Ronan,
Amon Düül,
Robert Hood,
Sun City Girls,
Harpers Bizarre,
Johnny Osbourne,
Faraquet,
Brass Construction,
FM Einheit,
Wolf Eyes,
Kevin Saunderson,
Au Pairs,
Tim Buckley,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
The Motions,
Toni Rubio,
the Fania All-Stars,
JFA,
Letta Mbulu,
The New Christs,
Sixth Finger,
The Barracudas,
Dawn Penn,
Nils Olav,
Hot Snakes,
Delon & Dalcan,
Y Pants,
Pylon,
Sound Behaviour,
Liliput,
the Swans,
Juan Atkins,
Index,
Marshall Jefferson,
Cheater Slicks,
The Associates,
Cal Tjader,
Fear,
T.S.O.L.,
Graham Central Station,
Rapeman,
Crispy Ambulance,
Jeru the Damaja,
Flamin' Groovies,
Minutemen,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
The Doors,
Monks,
Fatback Band,
Prince Buster,
The Blues Magoos,
Soulsonic Force,
Colin Newman,
The Pretty Things,
Gabor Szabo,
Crash Course in Science,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Cameo, Cameo, Cameo, Cameo.
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.