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 Macedonia and from Spokane.
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 1968 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 808 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 Severed Heads to the rap kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Be Bop Deluxe. All the underground hits.
All Amon Düül II tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lee Hazlewood record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lyres record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Soft Cell,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Standells,
Brick,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Freddie Wadling,
Roxy Music,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Mojo Men,
Skarface,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Public Enemy,
Flamin' Groovies,
Andrew Hill,
Mantronix,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Bob Dylan,
The Misunderstood,
The Selecter,
Sound Behaviour,
The Zeros,
Basic Channel,
cv313,
Prince Buster,
Gerry Rafferty,
AZ,
The Count Five,
Letta Mbulu,
Susan Cadogan,
Ossler,
Steve Hackett,
Main Source,
Joyce Sims,
Chrome,
Joe Finger,
LL Cool J,
Johnny Osbourne,
Robert Görl,
The Music Machine,
Mark Hollis,
Eric B and Rakim,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
The Electric Prunes,
Supertramp,
K-Klass,
Kevin Saunderson,
Eli Mardock,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Average White Band,
June Days,
Pagans,
Bang On A Can,
Tim Buckley,
Lakeside,
The Vogues,
Swans,
Peter and Kerry,
Essential Logic,
Eric Copeland,
Accadde A,
Drexciya, Drexciya, Drexciya, Drexciya.
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.