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 Uruguay and from Taipei.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1968 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1978 at the first Visage practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Funky Four + One to the techno 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 Kenny Larkin. All the underground hits.
All Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sonny Sharrock record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Echo & the Bunnymen record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Aloha Tigers,
Smog,
Arab on Radar,
David Axelrod,
The United States of America,
Mr. Review,
Oblivians,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Flamin' Groovies,
Steve Hackett,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Kerri Chandler,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Deepchord,
Minnie Riperton,
Spoonie Gee,
Ultimate Spinach,
Kenny Larkin,
The Victims,
The Evens,
China Crisis,
Chris Corsano,
Aswad,
Television Personalities,
Soul Sonic Force,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Pop Group,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Cymande,
June Days,
Kerrie Biddell,
Audionom,
The Neon Judgement,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Dark Day,
Mark Hollis,
K-Klass,
Bobby Sherman,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Niagra,
The Remains,
Nirvana,
The Happenings,
Television,
Lalo Schifrin,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Porter Ricks,
Prince Buster,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Black Sheep,
Black Bananas,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Suicide,
The Fuzztones,
Liliput,
Sonic Youth,
Henry Cow,
Matthew Bourne,
New York Dolls,
Funkadelic,
Scan 7, Scan 7, Scan 7, Scan 7.
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.