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 Senegal and from London.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Art of Noise 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 1967 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 marimba 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 Kings Of Tomorrow to the grime kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Harmonia. All the underground hits.
All Minutemen tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lindisfarne record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a ABC record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
PIL,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
The Walker Brothers,
The Five Americans,
Pylon,
The Doors,
The Blackbyrds,
Steve Hackett,
Brass Construction,
Robert Hood,
Man Eating Sloth,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Flipper,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
The Last Poets,
Funky Four + One,
KRS-One,
The Gun Club,
The Motions,
The Leaves,
Au Pairs,
Barrington Levy,
Roger Hodgson,
The Fire Engines,
Motorama,
John Cale,
Agent Orange,
Unrelated Segments,
The Index,
Joensuu 1685,
The Misunderstood,
Sight & Sound,
The Alarm Clocks,
Alison Limerick,
Minor Threat,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Kinks,
Anthony Braxton,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Country Teasers,
The Buckinghams,
Henry Cow,
Tres Demented,
The Skatalites,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Niagra,
Cybotron,
Archie Shepp,
Todd Terry,
The Monochrome Set,
Ice-T,
Jacques Brel,
the Soft Cell,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Brand Nubian,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Scion,
The Standells,
E-Dancer,
The Fuzztones,
Nas,
The Slits, The Slits, The Slits, The Slits.
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.