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 Ivory Coast and from Lille.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Reagan Youth to the rock 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 Sound Behaviour. All the underground hits.
All Suicide tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Alison Limerick record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a James White and The Blacks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Reuben Wilson,
Cal Tjader,
Gang of Four,
Junior Murvin,
Pere Ubu,
Grey Daturas,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Heaven 17,
Ituana,
Bauhaus,
Stetsasonic,
Surgeon,
Technova,
The Dave Clark Five,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Gichy Dan,
The Standells,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Godley & Creme,
Rufus Thomas,
Black Moon,
Man Eating Sloth,
Theoretical Girls,
The Associates,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Rosa Yemen,
Chris Corsano,
Shoche,
Dave Gahan,
the Slits,
The Gun Club,
Marcia Griffiths,
Popol Vuh,
Scientists,
Anakelly,
Steve Hackett,
Crash Course in Science,
Archie Shepp,
Pantaleimon,
Ralphi Rosario,
Little Man,
Erykah Badu,
Public Image Ltd.,
Spoonie Gee,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Eddi Front,
Rhythm & Sound,
David Axelrod,
Andrew Hill,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
The Birthday Party,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Kaleidoscope,
Delta 5,
Ossler,
Oblivians,
Alice Coltrane, Alice Coltrane, Alice Coltrane, Alice Coltrane.
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.