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 Grenada and from Edmonton.
But I was there.
I was there in 1987.
I was there at the first Nirvana show in Seattle.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 spring reverb 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 Vladislav Delay 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 Intrusion. All the underground hits.
All Flash Fearless tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Spandau Ballet 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ken Boothe record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Warren Ellis,
Scratch Acid,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Magma,
Danielle Patucci,
Nirvana,
The Durutti Column,
Minutemen,
cv313,
Mr. Review,
Minnie Riperton,
Crooked Eye,
The Offenders,
Brand Nubian,
Black Moon,
Flamin' Groovies,
Gang Green,
Fluxion,
Vainqueur,
Fela Kuti,
John Cale,
Archie Shepp,
Kas Product,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Kaleidoscope,
X-102,
Infiniti,
David Bowie,
Dorothy Ashby,
Pulsallama,
The United States of America,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Al Stewart,
The Cramps,
Eurythmics,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
The Neon Judgement,
Scott Walker,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Toni Rubio,
Bobby Byrd,
Joe Finger,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Spoonie Gee,
The Human League,
Derrick May,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Amon Düül II,
Minny Pops,
Derrick Morgan,
The Dirtbombs,
Soft Cell,
The Red Krayola,
Barrington Levy,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Radio Birdman,
The Buckinghams,
Ultra Naté,
Ronan,
AZ, AZ, AZ, AZ.
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.