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 Afghanistan and from Bremen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Buzzcocks show in Bolton.
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 1965 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 harpsichord 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 Vaughan Mason & Crew to the rap kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Justin Hinds & The Dominoes. All the underground hits.
All Sonny Sharrock tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kool G Rap & DJ Polo record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Erasure record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Yaz,
Traffic Nightmare,
Ralphi Rosario,
Model 500,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Marmalade,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Lower 48,
the Germs,
Schoolly D,
Index,
Donald Byrd,
Jeff Lynne,
Lee Hazlewood,
Prince Buster,
Sandy B,
Sun Ra,
X-Ray Spex,
Gang Gang Dance,
This Heat,
Roy Ayers,
Crooked Eye,
Joensuu 1685,
The Techniques,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Basic Channel,
Frankie Knuckles,
The Walker Brothers,
Echospace,
Kerri Chandler,
Lucky Dragons,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Y Pants,
Eric B and Rakim,
Electric Prunes,
Clear Light,
Gregory Isaacs,
The Martian,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Blossom Toes,
Joe Finger,
Avey Tare,
The Dead C,
The Velvet Underground,
Pantytec,
Half Japanese,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Eurythmics,
Tom Boy,
The Flesh Eaters,
Iggy Pop,
The Tremeloes,
Minor Threat,
Jimmy McGriff,
The Monochrome Set,
Eric Dolphy,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Audionom,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Matthew Bourne, Matthew Bourne, Matthew Bourne, Matthew Bourne.
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.