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 Senegal and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Buzzcocks show in Bolton.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 Robert Palmer 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 Public Image Ltd. to the disco kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Clear Light. All the underground hits.
All Jeru the Damaja tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Cosmic Jokers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 a marimba and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Urselle record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Eric Copeland,
Bootsy Collins,
Loose Ends,
Funky Four + One,
John Holt,
Bang On A Can,
Amon Düül II,
Wire,
The Neon Judgement,
Grauzone,
Don Cherry,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Fall,
Scientists,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
a-ha,
Man Eating Sloth,
Mark Hollis,
Darondo,
Con Funk Shun,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Joensuu 1685,
kango's stein massive,
Crispy Ambulance,
Althea and Donna,
Drexciya,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
the Fania All-Stars,
the Swans,
Radio Birdman,
Depeche Mode,
Lower 48,
Das Ding,
Mary Jane Girls,
Minutemen,
Gregory Isaacs,
Jimmy McGriff,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Dennis Brown,
Neil Young,
Echospace,
Derrick Morgan,
The Trojans,
Glenn Branca,
Goldenarms,
Rekid,
Letta Mbulu,
Circle Jerks,
The Residents,
The Raincoats,
Jeff Mills,
Wally Richardson,
Crispian St. Peters,
Jeru the Damaja,
The Dead C,
Ornette Coleman,
Subhumans,
The Electric Prunes,
A Certain Ratio,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Monolake, Monolake, Monolake, Monolake.
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.