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 San Marino and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia 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 1963 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 the Germs to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 The Mojo Men. All the underground hits.
All Dorothy Ashby tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every 10cc record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Liliput record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Whodini,
Kool Moe Dee,
Chris Corsano,
Simply Red,
Donald Byrd,
Mark Hollis,
Bang On A Can,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
The Move,
Fluxion,
Magma,
D'Angelo,
Gil Scott Heron,
James White and The Blacks,
LL Cool J,
the Bar-Kays,
Television Personalities,
Smog,
Kenny Larkin,
The Doobie Brothers,
Lou Christie,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
The Selecter,
X-Ray Spex,
Sound Behaviour,
Eden Ahbez,
The American Breed,
Electric Prunes,
Livin' Joy,
The Kinks,
Graham Central Station,
Tres Demented,
Echospace,
UT,
Wolf Eyes,
Bob Dylan,
Symarip,
Crispy Ambulance,
Ituana,
Deadbeat,
The Stooges,
The Gun Club,
Gastr Del Sol,
Con Funk Shun,
Dark Day,
Ossler,
Stockholm Monsters,
Brand Nubian,
Boredoms,
The Residents,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Zeros,
Ronnie Foster,
The Black Dice,
ABBA,
The Fall,
Sällskapet,
The Modern Lovers,
Lakeside,
DNA,
ABC,
Depeche Mode, Depeche Mode, Depeche Mode, Depeche Mode.
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.