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 Micronesia and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 Michael McDonald 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 London Community Gospel Choir to the funk 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 Talk Talk. All the underground hits.
All The Divine Comedy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 808 and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Donald Byrd record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Nik Kershaw,
Dennis Brown,
Motorama,
Whodini,
kango's stein massive,
Metal Thangz,
Arcadia,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Section 25,
Stiv Bators,
E-Dancer,
Shuggie Otis,
Gastr Del Sol,
Rotary Connection,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Los Fastidios,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Fortunes,
John Lydon,
Deakin,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Cameo,
The Cure,
Bill Near,
Avey Tare,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Television Personalities,
Pharoah Sanders,
Funkadelic,
The Music Machine,
The Remains,
Siglo XX,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Cosmic Jokers,
June Days,
China Crisis,
The Gories,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Moby Grape,
Panda Bear,
Roger Hodgson,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Bauhaus,
Model 500,
X-102,
Rekid,
The Shadows of Knight,
Aaron Thompson,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Massinfluence,
Barbara Tucker,
The Detroit Cobras,
Brand Nubian,
Joe Smooth,
Aloha Tigers,
Pere Ubu,
Throbbing Gristle,
The Standells,
Symarip,
Erykah Badu,
The Tremeloes,
Half Japanese, Half Japanese, Half Japanese, Half Japanese.
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.