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 Zambia and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1978.
I was there at the first Visage 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 1963 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Glasgow.
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 snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Pulsallama to the grunge kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Angels of Light & Akron/Family. All the underground hits.
All Lindisfarne tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sound Behaviour record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 a snare and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a MDC record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Techniques,
Eli Mardock,
Derrick Morgan,
Kenny Larkin,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Ultravox,
Moss Icon,
LL Cool J,
Severed Heads,
Pussy Galore,
The Wake,
Absolute Body Control,
The Sonics,
Groovy Waters,
Babytalk,
Pharoah Sanders,
Heaven 17,
New York Dolls,
Pulsallama,
The Monks,
Suicide,
The Shadows of Knight,
Buzzcocks,
The Divine Comedy,
Spandau Ballet,
The Buckinghams,
Barrington Levy,
Andrew Hill,
Alison Limerick,
Sun City Girls,
Jeff Lynne,
The Durutti Column,
Bobby Womack,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Hoover,
Pantytec,
Lightning Bolt,
Nils Olav,
Slave,
Trumans Water,
Popol Vuh,
Masters at Work,
Pantaleimon,
Depeche Mode,
The Angels of Light,
Swell Maps,
The United States of America,
The Red Krayola,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Drive Like Jehu,
Flash Fearless,
Cluster,
Amon Düül,
Fatback Band,
The Cramps,
Henry Cow,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Kevin Saunderson,
Gang Green,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Arcadia, Arcadia, Arcadia, Arcadia.
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.