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 Congo and from Milan.
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 1960 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 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 Electric Prunes to the crunk 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 Dark Day. All the underground hits.
All The Human League tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bobbi Humphrey 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Scan 7 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rekid,
Zero Boys,
The Gories,
Eric B and Rakim,
Harpers Bizarre,
Babytalk,
The Searchers,
Popol Vuh,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
The Pretty Things,
The Martian,
Pagans,
Janne Schatter,
the Soft Cell,
Josef K,
Oblivians,
L. Decosne,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Unwound,
Fad Gadget,
Matthew Bourne,
Lyres,
The Leaves,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Grass Roots,
Half Japanese,
China Crisis,
Quando Quango,
The Velvet Underground,
The Seeds,
Camberwell Now,
Peter & Gordon,
The Shadows of Knight,
Dennis Brown,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Fortunes,
John Lydon,
Niagra,
Tubeway Army,
Beasts of Bourbon,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Mission of Burma,
Deakin,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Ituana,
Yazoo,
Marvin Gaye,
Throbbing Gristle,
Patti Smith,
Bluetip,
Stereo Dub,
UT,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
the Germs,
Eli Mardock,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Radio Birdman,
Lebanon Hanover,
Darondo,
Colin Newman,
Scratch Acid, Scratch Acid, Scratch Acid, Scratch Acid.
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.