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 Burkina and from Cairo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 Taipei and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 David Bowie 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 Soft Cell to the grime kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 The Searchers. All the underground hits.
All Patti Smith tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bang on a Can All-Stars 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a L. Decosne record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
E-Dancer,
Camouflage,
Tropical Tobacco,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Buzzcocks,
Aural Exciters,
In Retrospect,
Franke,
Leonard Cohen,
Kaleidoscope,
The Count Five,
Bill Wells,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Malaria!,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Toasters,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Dennis Brown,
Pylon,
Warsaw,
Flash Fearless,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Gang Gang Dance,
Crash Course in Science,
The Star Department,
The Smiths,
The Blues Magoos,
Hashim,
Quantec,
Mark Hollis,
Rekid,
Aswad,
Lalann,
Masters at Work,
Theoretical Girls,
Swans,
A Flock of Seagulls,
The Gories,
Eddi Front,
Nick Fraelich,
Sparks,
The Smoke,
The Golliwogs,
Soul II Soul,
The Grass Roots,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Cure,
Bush Tetras,
Donny Hathaway,
Mantronix,
Sällskapet,
Yazoo,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Audionom,
Heaven 17,
Thee Headcoats,
Arcadia,
The Angels of Light,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Circle Jerks, Circle Jerks, Circle Jerks, Circle Jerks.
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.