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 Salvador.
But I was there.
I was there in .
I was there at the first Suicide 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 1969 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 mellotron 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 Unrelated Segments to the grime kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Adolescents. All the underground hits.
All Swans tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Joe Finger 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Janne Schatter record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Oblivians,
UT,
The Mojo Men,
The Happenings,
Gang of Four,
Deepchord,
Young Marble Giants,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
CMW,
Yellowson,
Minor Threat,
The Flesh Eaters,
Spandau Ballet,
Johnny Clarke,
Blossom Toes,
Funkadelic,
Mantronix,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Trumans Water,
John Foxx,
Simply Red,
Thompson Twins,
MC5,
Guru Guru,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Fear,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Nation of Ulysses,
Livin' Joy,
Public Enemy,
Crooked Eye,
Patti Smith,
Technova,
Gil Scott Heron,
Traffic Nightmare,
Masters at Work,
Das Ding,
Basic Channel,
Jerry's Kids,
Icehouse,
The Mummies,
Brass Construction,
Deakin,
Quando Quango,
Fatback Band,
MDC,
The Music Machine,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Babytalk,
Stereo Dub,
Funky Four + One,
The Monks,
The Detroit Cobras,
Country Teasers,
Groovy Waters,
Cecil Taylor,
Chrome,
Eve St. Jones,
Leonard Cohen,
KRS-One,
Organ,
Spoonie Gee, Spoonie Gee, Spoonie Gee, Spoonie Gee.
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.