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 St Lucia and from Madrid.
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 1969 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 clarinet 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 Vainqueur to the dance kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Soulsonic Force. All the underground hits.
All Desert Stars tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every the Normal record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Joensuu 1685 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
DJ Sneak,
X-Ray Spex,
Alice Coltrane,
Visage,
Lucky Dragons,
Ossler,
Technova,
Bill Near,
Quantec,
Depeche Mode,
Minor Threat,
Circle Jerks,
the Association,
Pylon,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Human League,
Mars,
Peter and Kerry,
Piero Umiliani,
Rotary Connection,
The Alarm Clocks,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
The Smiths,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Radiopuhelimet,
The Remains,
Jimmy McGriff,
Mad Mike,
Scan 7,
Newcleus,
Theoretical Girls,
Liliput,
Donny Hathaway,
Mission of Burma,
Suburban Knight,
Harpers Bizarre,
Kaleidoscope,
Kenny Larkin,
The Vogues,
Aaron Thompson,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Aural Exciters,
Skriet,
Jacob Miller,
Lalo Schifrin,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Seeds,
the Bar-Kays,
Bill Wells,
Adolescents,
Peter & Gordon,
K-Klass,
The Smoke,
The Detroit Cobras,
The Sonics,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Jesper Dahlback,
Cymande,
Roger Hodgson,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Essential Logic,
Sixth Finger,
Brick, Brick, Brick, Brick.
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.