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 Jordan and from Mumbai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 clarinet 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 Michelle Simonal to the techno kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Soulsonic Force. All the underground hits.
All The Busters tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Man Parrish record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 theremin and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mary Jane Girls record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rosa Yemen,
Quando Quango,
Lakeside,
The Gun Club,
The Shadows of Knight,
T. Rex,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
The Modern Lovers,
Camberwell Now,
Theoretical Girls,
The Velvet Underground,
Kurtis Blow,
Schoolly D,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
The Saints,
Hasil Adkins,
Stiv Bators,
Archie Shepp,
Metal Thangz,
John Foxx,
Sexual Harrassment,
Kayak,
The Litter,
Jandek,
Dorothy Ashby,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Vainqueur,
Basic Channel,
The Cowsills,
Connie Case,
The Detroit Cobras,
Skaos,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Cybotron,
The Birthday Party,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Sandy B,
Fluxion,
Sällskapet,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Fear,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
cv313,
The Dead C,
Gabor Szabo,
Al Stewart,
Ornette Coleman,
The Index,
Tropical Tobacco,
Underground Resistance,
Lucky Dragons,
Eurythmics,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Gang Green,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Invisible,
Marvin Gaye,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Glenn Branca,
Johnny Clarke, Johnny Clarke, Johnny Clarke, Johnny Clarke.
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.