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 Sierra Leone and from Mexico City.
But I was there.
I was there in 1973.
I was there at the first Television show in New York.
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 1969 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Yazoo to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Alton Ellis. All the underground hits.
All FM Einheit tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jeru the Damaja record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Pop Group record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Roxy Music,
Barry Ungar,
David Axelrod,
Darondo,
Young Marble Giants,
The Index,
These Immortal Souls,
Cluster,
The Monks,
The Moody Blues,
Accadde A,
New York Dolls,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Blackbyrds,
Joe Smooth,
The Cure,
The Invisible,
Tropical Tobacco,
Ultra Naté,
Delon & Dalcan,
Eric B and Rakim,
Maleditus Sound,
The American Breed,
Electric Prunes,
the Bar-Kays,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
CMW,
Rekid,
H. Thieme,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Glambeats Corp.,
the Swans,
Cymande,
Dennis Brown,
Wolf Eyes,
Neu!,
Khruangbin,
Joy Division,
Frankie Knuckles,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Bush Tetras,
Sun Ra,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Dead C,
The Stooges,
John Holt,
Max Romeo,
Oblivians,
Icehouse,
Television Personalities,
The Electric Prunes,
Kerrie Biddell,
Godley & Creme,
The Remains,
Jandek,
Magazine,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Slits,
Mr. Review,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Yaz, Yaz, Yaz, Yaz.
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.