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 Tuvalu and from Houston.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Art of Noise 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 1968 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 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 OOIOO to the grime 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 Marine Girls. All the underground hits.
All David Bowie tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Brand Nubian record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Deadbeat record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bill Near,
Severed Heads,
Marvin Gaye,
Depeche Mode,
Jerry's Kids,
R.M.O.,
Bootsy Collins,
The Beau Brummels,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Livin' Joy,
Amon Düül,
Kool Moe Dee,
The American Breed,
Dark Day,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Red Krayola,
the Sonics,
Duran Duran,
World's Most,
Electric Prunes,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Buzzcocks,
Sexual Harrassment,
Ponytail,
LL Cool J,
Davy DMX,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Zeros,
Soulsonic Force,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Echospace,
Oneida,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Crash Course in Science,
Nico,
Charles Mingus,
Drive Like Jehu,
Frankie Knuckles,
Barclay James Harvest,
Tres Demented,
Index,
Pierre Henry,
Bobby Womack,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Nils Olav,
Guru Guru,
These Immortal Souls,
Skaos,
Lakeside,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Icehouse,
the Association,
X-Ray Spex,
Roxette,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Raincoats,
The Wake,
Joe Finger,
Brick,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Alton Ellis,
In Retrospect, In Retrospect, In Retrospect, In Retrospect.
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.