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 Sudan and from Stockholm.
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 1965 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Accra.
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 1976 at the first Buzzcocks practice in a loft in Bolton.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Dark Day to the rock kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Sixth Finger. All the underground hits.
All The Dirtbombs tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every New Order record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Music Machine record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pole,
Echospace,
Television Personalities,
The Leaves,
The Shadows of Knight,
Pere Ubu,
Royal Trux,
Country Teasers,
Roy Ayers,
B.T. Express,
Barbara Tucker,
Black Pus,
David Axelrod,
The Zeros,
Glambeats Corp.,
Monolake,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Skaos,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Scientists,
Kayak,
Ponytail,
The Smoke,
Brothers Johnson,
Public Enemy,
The Trojans,
Lou Reed,
Adolescents,
Eve St. Jones,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Mo-Dettes,
L. Decosne,
Outsiders,
The Human League,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Babytalk,
Cybotron,
Funky Four + One,
Sarah Menescal,
DNA,
The Music Machine,
T.S.O.L.,
Minnie Riperton,
Colin Newman,
Unwound,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Lakeside,
Sister Nancy,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Angry Samoans,
Janne Schatter,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Selecter,
Scratch Acid,
Blancmange,
Mark Hollis,
a-ha,
Nico,
Gregory Isaacs,
Gang Starr, Gang Starr, Gang Starr, Gang Starr.
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.