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 Liberia and from Columbus.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1962 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 808 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 Ten City to the rap kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Vaughan Mason & Crew. All the underground hits.
All Magma tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Metal Thangz record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Marvin Gaye,
the Slits,
Patti Smith,
Public Image Ltd.,
Moby Grape,
Thompson Twins,
Negative Approach,
The Fire Engines,
Lindisfarne,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Altered Images,
Pylon,
Aaron Thompson,
Ultimate Spinach,
X-102,
Wire,
Sixth Finger,
Joe Smooth,
Ten City,
Parry Music,
Ultra Naté,
Blossom Toes,
Franke,
Ken Boothe,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Modern Lovers,
Ultravox,
Tropical Tobacco,
The United States of America,
Model 500,
The Busters,
The Golliwogs,
AZ,
Kerri Chandler,
Sun City Girls,
Radiohead,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Motions,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Flash Fearless,
Sonny Sharrock,
Mary Jane Girls,
Reagan Youth,
Barclay James Harvest,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
DJ Style,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Johnny Osbourne,
Zapp,
X-101,
Newcleus,
Traffic Nightmare,
Black Pus,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Dead Boys,
Pet Shop Boys,
Neu!,
Scan 7,
Henry Cow,
The Smoke,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Rufus Thomas,
Nik Kershaw,
Crispy Ambulance, Crispy Ambulance, Crispy Ambulance, Crispy Ambulance.
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.