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 Kuwait and from Tokyo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia 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 1967 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Milan.
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 arpeggiator 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 Angels of Light & Akron/Family to the punk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Nirvana. All the underground hits.
All Second Layer tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 mellotron and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Amon Düül II record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ten City,
Mantronix,
Black Bananas,
Dark Day,
Dawn Penn,
Arab on Radar,
Hasil Adkins,
Gerry Rafferty,
Organ,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Fad Gadget,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Terry Callier,
The Barracudas,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Neu!,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Leaves,
The Gap Band,
Ronnie Foster,
Blancmange,
Don Cherry,
Minutemen,
Chris Corsano,
Funky Four + One,
Toni Rubio,
Cluster,
The Standells,
The Red Krayola,
The Electric Prunes,
Silicon Teens,
Charles Mingus,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Techniques,
Babytalk,
The Buckinghams,
The Durutti Column,
Interpol,
Spoonie Gee,
Jandek,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Newcleus,
PIL,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Joe Finger,
The Saints,
Bad Manners,
The Alarm Clocks,
The Modern Lovers,
Piero Umiliani,
The Victims,
Crispy Ambulance,
Drive Like Jehu,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Ralphi Rosario,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
The Real Kids,
Barclay James Harvest,
Duran Duran,
the Swans,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Dual Sessions,
Monks, Monks, Monks, Monks.
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.