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 Lille.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1967 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 linndrum 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 Yellowson to the jazz 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 Magazine. All the underground hits.
All The Leaves tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Susan Cadogan 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nation of Ulysses record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Joe Smooth,
Gil Scott Heron,
Slick Rick,
Hoover,
Roxy Music,
Grandmaster Flash,
Fatback Band,
Avey Tare,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Reagan Youth,
Juan Atkins,
U.S. Maple,
Bill Near,
Byron Stingily,
The Offenders,
Minor Threat,
Nick Fraelich,
The Mummies,
Stetsasonic,
Ultimate Spinach,
Soul Sonic Force,
Gregory Isaacs,
Harpers Bizarre,
the Human League,
Sugar Minott,
Adolescents,
Panda Bear,
Bootsy Collins,
Boz Scaggs,
Swell Maps,
Derrick May,
Half Japanese,
Livin' Joy,
Babytalk,
Peter and Kerry,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Black Flag,
Idris Muhammad,
Bauhaus,
Moebius,
Josef K,
Soft Machine,
Marcia Griffiths,
Dead Boys,
Eric Copeland,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Gastr Del Sol,
Cal Tjader,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Cramps,
The Blues Magoos,
Brass Construction,
Interpol,
Eve St. Jones,
Tears for Fears,
Joensuu 1685,
Mission of Burma,
Roger Hodgson,
Kenny Larkin,
The Fuzztones,
Scientists,
Basic Channel, Basic Channel, Basic Channel, Basic Channel.
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.