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 South Africa and from Glasgow.
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 1964 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Edmonton and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 guitar 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 Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan 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 The Tremeloes. All the underground hits.
All Public Enemy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sixth Finger record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Das Ding record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
David Axelrod,
Davy DMX,
The Selecter,
The Doobie Brothers,
Harmonia,
Arcadia,
David McCallum,
Main Source,
Skaos,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Crash Course in Science,
10cc,
Pantytec,
Eric Copeland,
Agent Orange,
Radio Birdman,
Goldenarms,
Ronnie Foster,
Tom Boy,
Ornette Coleman,
Swell Maps,
Arthur Verocai,
Boredoms,
Urselle,
Silicon Teens,
Ice-T,
Outsiders,
Joey Negro,
The Monochrome Set,
Section 25,
DNA,
The Victims,
Funkadelic,
Sexual Harrassment,
Robert Wyatt,
Rapeman,
Soft Machine,
Banda Bassotti,
The Slits,
Bobby Sherman,
Derrick May,
June of 44,
The Tremeloes,
Wolf Eyes,
Lyres,
John Foxx,
June Days,
Bush Tetras,
T.S.O.L.,
Essential Logic,
Absolute Body Control,
Underground Resistance,
Thee Headcoats,
The Black Dice,
Japan,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Bauhaus,
Toni Rubio,
The Fugs,
Nirvana,
Wire,
Flamin' Groovies, Flamin' Groovies, Flamin' Groovies, Flamin' Groovies.
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.