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 Saudi Arabia and from Delhi.
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 1961 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 Donald Fagen 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 Moebius 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 Procol Harum. All the underground hits.
All Big Daddy Kane tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Fall 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Charles Mingus record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron 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 Human League,
Bauhaus,
The Skatalites,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Mo-Dettes,
Fad Gadget,
Faust,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Barry Ungar,
Nick Fraelich,
The Black Dice,
the Sonics,
Joy Division,
The Detroit Cobras,
Aural Exciters,
The Fugs,
Soft Cell,
Khruangbin,
Man Eating Sloth,
H. Thieme,
The Monks,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Radiohead,
Accadde A,
Fat Boys,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Gories,
Slave,
Minny Pops,
The Mighty Diamonds,
The Moody Blues,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Masters at Work,
Lalo Schifrin,
Crooked Eye,
Erykah Badu,
The Velvet Underground,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
B.T. Express,
June Days,
Supertramp,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Thee Headcoats,
Soul II Soul,
Steve Hackett,
Crispian St. Peters,
Piero Umiliani,
Sixth Finger,
Liliput,
Nirvana,
Dennis Brown,
Sex Pistols,
Pere Ubu,
Eve St. Jones,
A Flock of Seagulls,
John Lydon,
Michelle Simonal,
Funky Four + One,
Pantytec,
The Walker Brothers,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
The Names,
Marine Girls, Marine Girls, Marine Girls, Marine Girls.
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.