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 Jordan and from Bologna.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 John Cale to the grunge kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Move. All the underground hits.
All Pere Ubu tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lebanon Hanover record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pole record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Gun Club,
The Fire Engines,
Tubeway Army,
UT,
Theoretical Girls,
Arcadia,
Lungfish,
Kaleidoscope,
D'Angelo,
Duran Duran,
Warren Ellis,
R.M.O.,
Harpers Bizarre,
Newcleus,
Toni Rubio,
Gong,
Rotary Connection,
Echospace,
Lindisfarne,
The Misunderstood,
X-101,
Chris & Cosey,
Nas,
Section 25,
Johnny Clarke,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Franke,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Crispy Ambulance,
DJ Style,
The Flesh Eaters,
Jeff Mills,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Zeros,
Tim Buckley,
Eurythmics,
The Litter,
Dorothy Ashby,
Mad Mike,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
China Crisis,
Bush Tetras,
Sparks,
The Mummies,
Skarface,
Trumans Water,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Kevin Saunderson,
Fifty Foot Hose,
These Immortal Souls,
Symarip,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Eric Copeland,
T. Rex,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Gil Scott Heron,
Faraquet,
Lower 48,
June Days,
Idris Muhammad,
Cybotron, Cybotron, Cybotron, Cybotron.
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.