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 Vanuatu and from Toronto.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1966 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Juan Atkins to the rock 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 Piero Umiliani. All the underground hits.
All Gang of Four tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every the Germs 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lee Hazlewood record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Agent Orange,
Second Layer,
Essential Logic,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Junior Murvin,
The New Christs,
The Mojo Men,
Charles Mingus,
X-Ray Spex,
The Black Dice,
PIL,
The Cowsills,
Alison Limerick,
MC5,
Howard Jones,
Quadrant,
The Fugs,
The Slits,
Saccharine Trust,
Minnie Riperton,
Ludus,
Jesper Dahlback,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Gerry Rafferty,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
The Buckinghams,
Nils Olav,
Pere Ubu,
Q and Not U,
Ultra Naté,
Unrelated Segments,
Robert Hood,
Grauzone,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Panda Bear,
The Divine Comedy,
the Swans,
Alton Ellis,
The Grass Roots,
Piero Umiliani,
The Fortunes,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Skarface,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Harmonia,
Connie Case,
Ohio Players,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The Trojans,
Marvin Gaye,
Outsiders,
The Motions,
Quando Quango,
Soul Sonic Force,
Peter and Kerry,
Judy Mowatt,
Crispian St. Peters,
Goldenarms,
The Martian,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Boogie Down Productions,
The Golliwogs,
The Beau Brummels,
The Fall, The Fall, The Fall, The Fall.
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.