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 Korea South and from Accra.
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 1967 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Susan Cadogan to the rock kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Half Japanese. All the underground hits.
All Oneida tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pole record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 a clarinet and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Josef K record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The Mummies,
The Sound,
ABC,
Masters at Work,
Eric B and Rakim,
Big Daddy Kane,
Circle Jerks,
Rotary Connection,
the Bar-Kays,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Crooked Eye,
Hot Snakes,
Yazoo,
Reagan Youth,
H. Thieme,
Pet Shop Boys,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Susan Cadogan,
DNA,
The Fuzztones,
New York Dolls,
Deadbeat,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Soft Cell,
Nation of Ulysses,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Ultravox,
Television Personalities,
Faraquet,
Porter Ricks,
Flipper,
the Human League,
Nik Kershaw,
Blancmange,
Anthony Braxton,
Ronnie Foster,
Infiniti,
A Certain Ratio,
Girls At Our Best!,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Crash Course in Science,
Piero Umiliani,
Janne Schatter,
Idris Muhammad,
The Knickerbockers,
Vladislav Delay,
Scan 7,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Second Layer,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Dennis Brown,
Tommy Roe,
Jimmy McGriff,
Robert Hood,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Rod Modell, Rod Modell, Rod Modell, Rod Modell.
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.