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 Niger and from Taipei.
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 1965 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan to the disco 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 Fad Gadget. All the underground hits.
All Electric Light Orchestra tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Qualms record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 chamberlin and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Youth Brigade record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Blancmange,
X-102,
Johnny Osbourne,
Harry Pussy,
Con Funk Shun,
The Moleskins,
Donny Hathaway,
Altered Images,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Flesh Eaters,
Shoche,
Cecil Taylor,
Sister Nancy,
Peter & Gordon,
Sällskapet,
Lou Reed,
The Index,
Joe Smooth,
Television,
Can,
The Sound,
Barbara Tucker,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Pere Ubu,
Royal Trux,
Bootsy Collins,
Jacob Miller,
cv313,
The Real Kids,
Los Fastidios,
Sun City Girls,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The Velvet Underground,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Alice Coltrane,
Desert Stars,
Gichy Dan,
Ponytail,
Wings,
Delta 5,
Cheater Slicks,
the Bar-Kays,
Flash Fearless,
Suburban Knight,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Pylon,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Isaac Hayes,
Marc Almond,
The Human League,
Sarah Menescal,
Youth Brigade,
Soulsonic Force,
The Smiths,
Kenny Larkin,
The Fuzztones,
Livin' Joy, Livin' Joy, Livin' Joy, Livin' Joy.
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.