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 Cuba and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1964 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 güiro 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 Funky Four + One to the punk kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Mandrill. All the underground hits.
All Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Neon Judgement record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The New Christs record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Matthew Halsall,
the Soft Cell,
Henry Cow,
Section 25,
Lakeside,
Quadrant,
Rapeman,
Lightning Bolt,
The Real Kids,
Make Up,
China Crisis,
Tom Boy,
Buzzcocks,
Cymande,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
The Martian,
Index,
The Durutti Column,
LL Cool J,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Jimmy McGriff,
Hashim,
Mo-Dettes,
ABBA,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Aural Exciters,
Alice Coltrane,
The Angels of Light,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
The Sonics,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Gong,
Ten City,
Aaron Thompson,
Pulsallama,
Jacob Miller,
Matthew Bourne,
The Gun Club,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Connie Case,
Hasil Adkins,
The Human League,
Kerrie Biddell,
Drive Like Jehu,
Radiopuhelimet,
Todd Rundgren,
Spandau Ballet,
Flipper,
The Trojans,
Model 500,
Throbbing Gristle,
The New Christs,
Sparks,
Scrapy,
The Evens,
Gregory Isaacs,
Subhumans,
The Beau Brummels,
La Düsseldorf,
Camberwell Now,
T.S.O.L.,
Siglo XX, Siglo XX, Siglo XX, Siglo XX.
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.