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 Iceland and from Lyon.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South 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 1966 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 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 Magma to the jazz 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 Liaisons Dangereuses. All the underground hits.
All Vainqueur tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Erykah Badu record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 theremin and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rahsaan Roland Kirk record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
JFA,
ABC,
Wings,
Sixth Finger,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Dead C,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
The Toasters,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Judy Mowatt,
Jandek,
Michelle Simonal,
Scott Walker,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Altered Images,
Lyres,
Max Romeo,
Anthony Braxton,
Marmalade,
The Birthday Party,
Tommy Roe,
Circle Jerks,
D'Angelo,
The Motions,
The Modern Lovers,
The United States of America,
Severed Heads,
The Dirtbombs,
Lebanon Hanover,
Mary Jane Girls,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Newcleus,
Smog,
Johnny Osbourne,
The J.B.'s,
Kurtis Blow,
Schoolly D,
Radiohead,
The Smiths,
Con Funk Shun,
Warren Ellis,
Nils Olav,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Moebius,
Joensuu 1685,
Marshall Jefferson,
Danielle Patucci,
Trumans Water,
Buzzcocks,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
The Star Department,
Silicon Teens,
the Bar-Kays,
Scratch Acid,
A Certain Ratio,
The Fortunes,
The Monks,
Black Bananas,
Nick Fraelich,
Goldenarms, Goldenarms, Goldenarms, Goldenarms.
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.