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 Moldova and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 oboe 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 Big Daddy Kane to the grime kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Mars. All the underground hits.
All Susan Cadogan tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Youth Brigade record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 spring reverb and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ludus record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ 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 Residents,
World's Most,
Scratch Acid,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Bauhaus,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Marvin Gaye,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Joe Smooth,
Amon Düül II,
The Slits,
The Tremeloes,
Kas Product,
DJ Style,
Fugazi,
Kerrie Biddell,
Slave,
Erykah Badu,
Janne Schatter,
The Knickerbockers,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Nation of Ulysses,
Cameo,
John Coltrane,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Wasted Youth,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Litter,
The United States of America,
The Count Five,
Barrington Levy,
B.T. Express,
The Evens,
Bluetip,
This Heat,
The Moleskins,
Deepchord,
Magma,
Suburban Knight,
Nick Fraelich,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
The Alarm Clocks,
Matthew Halsall,
FM Einheit,
The Gap Band,
Sound Behaviour,
Faraquet,
Heaven 17,
Brick,
Robert Wyatt,
the Fania All-Stars,
Mad Mike,
Delta 5,
The Names,
Fela Kuti,
Lou Christie,
Los Fastidios,
Blancmange,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Flash Fearless,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Visage,
John Lydon, John Lydon, John Lydon, John Lydon.
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.