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 Portugal and from Tokyo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1967 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Bologna.
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 guitar 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 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 Monks. All the underground hits.
All Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fatback Band record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mark Hollis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Gap Band,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
The Last Poets,
Silicon Teens,
Marc Almond,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Young Marble Giants,
Alphaville,
The Trojans,
Panda Bear,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Suburban Knight,
The Saints,
David Axelrod,
Shoche,
Camouflage,
Oneida,
Ten City,
Circle Jerks,
The Divine Comedy,
Slave,
Scott Walker,
Lebanon Hanover,
Yellowson,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Neon Judgement,
The American Breed,
The Kinks,
Laurel Aitken,
Masters at Work,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Godley & Creme,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Grass Roots,
Bob Dylan,
Nik Kershaw,
The Black Dice,
Saccharine Trust,
Rekid,
Traffic Nightmare,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Absolute Body Control,
John Lydon,
Von Mondo,
Talk Talk,
Bush Tetras,
Unwound,
Schoolly D,
Tropical Tobacco,
Josef K,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
La Düsseldorf,
Babytalk,
Audionom,
Crispy Ambulance,
Glambeats Corp.,
Scrapy,
New Order,
This Heat,
Neu!,
Sound Behaviour,
The Fire Engines,
The Cowsills, The Cowsills, The Cowsills, The Cowsills.
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.