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 Morocco and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1962 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Evens to the rap kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Newcleus. All the underground hits.
All Amazonics tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Outsiders record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Barry Ungar record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Skatalites,
Slave,
Motorama,
Interpol,
Moss Icon,
Kerrie Biddell,
Das Ding,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Big Daddy Kane,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Neil Young,
Howard Jones,
Babytalk,
Simply Red,
Aswad,
Jacques Brel,
T.S.O.L.,
Angry Samoans,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Los Fastidios,
Gang Green,
Schoolly D,
EPMD,
Loose Ends,
The Names,
Mars,
Massinfluence,
The Selecter,
John Foxx,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Depeche Mode,
B.T. Express,
Intrusion,
Hoover,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The Monks,
Rosa Yemen,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Soul Sonic Force,
Ossler,
F. McDonald,
Brick,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Underground Resistance,
The Alarm Clocks,
Audionom,
Brothers Johnson,
Ohio Players,
Thompson Twins,
Graham Central Station,
Accadde A,
Eddi Front,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Gong,
It's A Beautiful Day,
the Slits,
Shuggie Otis,
Mad Mike,
the Association,
Fifty Foot Hose, Fifty Foot Hose, Fifty Foot Hose, Fifty Foot Hose.
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.