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 Jamaica and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1960 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and New York.
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 synthesizer 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 Freddie Wadling to the funk 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 Sixth Finger. All the underground hits.
All Wings tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Knickerbockers 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Pop Group record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Associates,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Gabor Szabo,
The Wake,
The Music Machine,
the Swans,
Radiohead,
The Zeros,
Tears for Fears,
Crash Course in Science,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Johnny Clarke,
Danielle Patucci,
Barbara Tucker,
Lalo Schifrin,
Cheater Slicks,
Sparks,
The Names,
Fear,
The Trojans,
China Crisis,
Vladislav Delay,
Gregory Isaacs,
Tomorrow,
The United States of America,
Bang On A Can,
Minnie Riperton,
Supertramp,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Walker Brothers,
The Slackers,
Patti Smith,
Nik Kershaw,
Japan,
Banda Bassotti,
Country Teasers,
the Germs,
Yusef Lateef,
Soulsonic Force,
Magma,
Unrelated Segments,
Television,
Agent Orange,
Sun Ra,
The Martian,
Oneida,
The Electric Prunes,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Fluxion,
The Modern Lovers,
Man Eating Sloth,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Royal Trux,
Radio Birdman,
Malaria!,
Youth Brigade,
Howard Jones,
Accadde A,
Goldenarms,
The Move,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Saints,
Darondo, Darondo, Darondo, Darondo.
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.