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 Egypt and from Jakarta.
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 1963 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 The Techniques to the grime 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 Sunsets and Hearts. All the underground hits.
All Au Pairs tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Divine Comedy 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Surgeon record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Nick Fraelich,
Juan Atkins,
X-101,
The Moody Blues,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Sonic Youth,
Joy Division,
Quadrant,
Delta 5,
Section 25,
Nico,
Unrelated Segments,
The Evens,
In Retrospect,
Eyeless In Gaza,
The Selecter,
Lalann,
Suicide,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Susan Cadogan,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Residents,
Marine Girls,
Sister Nancy,
Alison Limerick,
The Searchers,
The Fuzztones,
the Bar-Kays,
Pere Ubu,
Johnny Osbourne,
Zapp,
Easy Going,
Cheater Slicks,
Interpol,
Depeche Mode,
Masters at Work,
Janne Schatter,
Dark Day,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Eric Dolphy,
Yusef Lateef,
Chris Corsano,
Piero Umiliani,
Barclay James Harvest,
Isaac Hayes,
Neu!,
Fugazi,
Das Ding,
Sex Pistols,
The Star Department,
These Immortal Souls,
Lakeside,
Sixth Finger,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Hashim,
Crime,
Wings,
Bill Wells,
The Divine Comedy,
Bronski Beat, Bronski Beat, Bronski Beat, Bronski Beat.
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.