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 Belarus and from Madrid.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle show in 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 1960 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 sitar 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 Joensuu 1685 to the punk 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 Tres Demented. All the underground hits.
All Livin' Joy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Marc Almond record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Dennis Brown record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Yaz,
MC5,
The Skatalites,
The Associates,
Erykah Badu,
Alice Coltrane,
Scrapy,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Marine Girls,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Derrick Morgan,
The Shadows of Knight,
Unrelated Segments,
Au Pairs,
Hot Snakes,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Fall,
Infiniti,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Clear Light,
X-Ray Spex,
The Count Five,
Mantronix,
Kaleidoscope,
Erasure,
The Star Department,
The Selecter,
Y Pants,
The Sound,
Pole,
Nico,
Scientists,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
the Soft Cell,
Vladislav Delay,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Gang of Four,
Kayak,
Big Daddy Kane,
These Immortal Souls,
Eden Ahbez,
Brass Construction,
Harmonia,
The Durutti Column,
Patti Smith,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Grey Daturas,
Matthew Halsall,
Average White Band,
Pulsallama,
Grandmaster Flash,
Alton Ellis,
Gang Starr,
The J.B.'s,
T.S.O.L.,
Main Source,
Arthur Verocai,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Maurizio,
FM Einheit,
Todd Rundgren,
Gregory Isaacs,
Black Sheep, Black Sheep, Black Sheep, Black Sheep.
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.