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 Sri Lanka and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Philadelphia.
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 theremin 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 Tommy Roe to the disco kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Stereo Dub. All the underground hits.
All The Stooges tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Wings 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Traffic Nightmare record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Fuzztones,
Arab on Radar,
Hoover,
the Soft Cell,
John Cale,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Monochrome Set,
Excepter,
Surgeon,
James White and The Blacks,
The Remains,
AZ,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Human League,
Rod Modell,
Theoretical Girls,
Scratch Acid,
The Wake,
Royal Trux,
Ituana,
Gastr Del Sol,
Man Parrish,
Outsiders,
Ossler,
Rosa Yemen,
Jawbox,
Neu!,
Deadbeat,
The Cure,
Crispian St. Peters,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Wally Richardson,
Whodini,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Bill Wells,
Absolute Body Control,
The Toasters,
Sun City Girls,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
World's Most,
Patti Smith,
Leonard Cohen,
Harmonia,
Negative Approach,
Harry Pussy,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
T.S.O.L.,
Lower 48,
JFA,
L. Decosne,
Essential Logic,
Kerri Chandler,
Lungfish,
Brothers Johnson,
Nik Kershaw,
Johnny Osbourne, Johnny Osbourne, Johnny Osbourne, Johnny Osbourne.
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.