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 Kenya and from Stockholm.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle 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 1962 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Beijing.
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 arpeggiator 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 Jeru the Damaja to the grunge 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 Sex Pistols. All the underground hits.
All Amazonics tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every A Certain Ratio 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Echospace record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Brand Nubian,
Pylon,
The Walker Brothers,
a-ha,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Supertramp,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Janne Schatter,
Tubeway Army,
JFA,
Ronan,
Delta 5,
Public Enemy,
Cheater Slicks,
Pere Ubu,
Theoretical Girls,
Public Image Ltd.,
Adolescents,
Moebius,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Faust,
The Five Americans,
Danielle Patucci,
The Names,
Shuggie Otis,
Blake Baxter,
The United States of America,
Minutemen,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
CMW,
Half Japanese,
Tropical Tobacco,
Ludus,
Jandek,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Soft Machine,
Gong,
Section 25,
Barbara Tucker,
The Move,
Little Man,
Fifty Foot Hose,
AZ,
The Cramps,
Inner City,
Absolute Body Control,
Q65,
Nik Kershaw,
Kevin Saunderson,
Bootsy Collins,
Suicide,
Arab on Radar,
Joyce Sims,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Mandrill,
Aswad,
10cc,
James White and The Blacks,
John Holt,
The Index,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Freddie Wadling,
Andrew Hill, Andrew Hill, Andrew Hill, Andrew Hill.
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.