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 East Timor and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Ituana to the rock kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Smiths. All the underground hits.
All Underground Resistance tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Motions record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bizarre Inc. record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Maleditus Sound,
Brand Nubian,
Nils Olav,
K-Klass,
Qualms,
Talk Talk,
Shuggie Otis,
Half Japanese,
Scratch Acid,
Joe Smooth,
Agent Orange,
Black Pus,
John Coltrane,
Lightning Bolt,
Joyce Sims,
Sällskapet,
Terry Callier,
Liliput,
Dave Gahan,
Kaleidoscope,
Steve Hackett,
Agitation Free,
Banda Bassotti,
Jeff Lynne,
Stiv Bators,
The Trojans,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Ponytail,
New Age Steppers,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Excepter,
Jacob Miller,
Funky Four + One,
the Germs,
Can,
The Toasters,
UT,
Metal Thangz,
Hashim,
Siglo XX,
Matthew Halsall,
Echospace,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Tres Demented,
The Cowsills,
Barbara Tucker,
Circle Jerks,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Marc Almond,
Ultra Naté,
Outsiders,
The Seeds,
The Slits,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
John Lydon,
The Moody Blues,
Leonard Cohen,
X-101,
Bizarre Inc.,
Young Marble Giants,
Eric Copeland,
Niagra,
Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman.
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.