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 Liechtenstein and from Cairo.
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 1969 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 T. Rex to the grime 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 Angels of Light & Akron/Family. All the underground hits.
All Ralphi Rosario tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Soft Machine record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 güiro and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Alphaville record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Neu!,
The Monochrome Set,
Eurythmics,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Icehouse,
Henry Cow,
Lindisfarne,
Alice Coltrane,
New Age Steppers,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Techniques,
Barclay James Harvest,
Beasts of Bourbon,
FM Einheit,
DJ Style,
Ludus,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Ice-T,
Public Image Ltd.,
David Axelrod,
Skaos,
Accadde A,
Glenn Branca,
EPMD,
Interpol,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Fela Kuti,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
JFA,
One Last Wish,
Lou Reed,
A Certain Ratio,
Eric Dolphy,
Hoover,
Subhumans,
The Smoke,
James White and The Blacks,
Joe Smooth,
Magma,
Bauhaus,
Qualms,
Essential Logic,
Motorama,
Lee Hazlewood,
Reuben Wilson,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Bobby Byrd,
Man Eating Sloth,
Severed Heads,
Supertramp,
Amon Düül II,
Crime,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Silicon Teens,
Flipper,
Avey Tare,
Bad Manners,
The Sound,
Big Daddy Kane, Big Daddy Kane, Big Daddy Kane, Big Daddy Kane.
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.