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 Kenya and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1978.
I was there at the first Visage 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 1960 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Patti Smith to the techno kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Shuggie Otis. All the underground hits.
All Public Image Ltd. tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Offenders record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Tommy Roe record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Pet Shop Boys,
Joensuu 1685,
Thee Headcoats,
Newcleus,
Scratch Acid,
Livin' Joy,
Ultra Naté,
Basic Channel,
Clear Light,
Nick Fraelich,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Slick Rick,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
10cc,
Yaz,
Ash Ra Tempel,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Marshall Jefferson,
In Retrospect,
The Offenders,
Al Stewart,
Joe Smooth,
John Holt,
Metal Thangz,
Qualms,
Donald Byrd,
Popol Vuh,
Matthew Bourne,
The Kinks,
Patti Smith,
Fear,
Soul II Soul,
Dawn Penn,
John Cale,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Pop Group,
Harpers Bizarre,
Khruangbin,
Fugazi,
The Searchers,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Rhythm & Sound,
Rosa Yemen,
Johnny Clarke,
Suburban Knight,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Visage,
Reuben Wilson,
Whodini,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Altered Images,
The Wake,
Throbbing Gristle,
The Last Poets,
The Move,
Subhumans,
Rakim,
Second Layer, Second Layer, Second Layer, Second Layer.
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.