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 Gambia and from Toronto.
But I was there.
I was there in 1973.
I was there at the first Television show in New York.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 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 Scrapy to the punk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft. All the underground hits.
All Howard Jones tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Black Sheep record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Matthew Halsall record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Modern Lovers,
ABBA,
Wasted Youth,
Oneida,
Anthony Braxton,
The Alarm Clocks,
The Invisible,
Negative Approach,
The Golliwogs,
The American Breed,
Vainqueur,
Wolf Eyes,
Judy Mowatt,
The Stooges,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Remains,
Dorothy Ashby,
Barrington Levy,
Prince Buster,
Isaac Hayes,
L. Decosne,
Lou Christie,
The Birthday Party,
Rod Modell,
the Human League,
the Swans,
Gong,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Newcleus,
Gang Starr,
Nik Kershaw,
The Cure,
Amon Düül,
Thee Headcoats,
Magazine,
The Selecter,
Derrick Morgan,
Visage,
Todd Rundgren,
Patti Smith,
Soft Cell,
David Axelrod,
Blake Baxter,
New York Dolls,
T.S.O.L.,
Surgeon,
Leonard Cohen,
Mr. Review,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Soul II Soul,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Marc Almond,
Aloha Tigers,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Charles Mingus,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Ken Boothe,
Eurythmics,
Heaven 17,
Panda Bear,
The Fire Engines, The Fire Engines, The Fire Engines, The Fire Engines.
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.