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 Namibia and from Lille.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South 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 1965 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 harpsichord 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 John Lydon to the disco kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Rekid. All the underground hits.
All A Flock of Seagulls tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pagans record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lonnie Liston Smith record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lyres,
Basic Channel,
Camouflage,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Tom Boy,
Minor Threat,
DJ Sneak,
Arcadia,
Aswad,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Groovy Waters,
Tropical Tobacco,
Suicide,
The Flesh Eaters,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Arthur Verocai,
The Young Rascals,
Radiohead,
The Gap Band,
Brothers Johnson,
Massinfluence,
Oneida,
Crime,
Y Pants,
Sex Pistols,
Peter and Kerry,
Jeff Lynne,
Bluetip,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Scratch Acid,
Mars,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
The Monks,
Ten City,
The New Christs,
The Motions,
Accadde A,
Urselle,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Stereo Dub,
Kaleidoscope,
The Blues Magoos,
Livin' Joy,
Hashim,
Pagans,
Henry Cow,
Icehouse,
The Names,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Saccharine Trust,
The Mummies,
Grauzone,
Nick Fraelich,
The Move,
Tomorrow,
Derrick May,
Crispy Ambulance,
Andrew Hill,
Throbbing Gristle,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Dawn Penn,
X-Ray Spex, X-Ray Spex, X-Ray Spex, X-Ray Spex.
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.