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 Bahrain and from Lyon.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1967 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 1977 at the first Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 H. Thieme to the crunk 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 Sarah Menescal. All the underground hits.
All Bang On A Can tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Josef K record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bauhaus,
Livin' Joy,
the Soft Cell,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
The Litter,
Pet Shop Boys,
Kevin Saunderson,
Charles Mingus,
Lower 48,
Minnie Riperton,
The Gories,
Adolescents,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Boogie Down Productions,
Aaron Thompson,
Franke,
Cluster,
Altered Images,
The Invisible,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Barrington Levy,
The Fugs,
Swans,
Ludus,
Isaac Hayes,
Rekid,
DNA,
Gong,
The Buckinghams,
Nik Kershaw,
Don Cherry,
Patti Smith,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Rosa Yemen,
B.T. Express,
The Last Poets,
The Selecter,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Idris Muhammad,
Flash Fearless,
The Count Five,
Pole,
The Slackers,
Masters at Work,
Eden Ahbez,
Can,
World's Most,
the Sonics,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
H. Thieme,
Sexual Harrassment,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
OOIOO,
The Associates,
Cheater Slicks,
Gang of Four,
Eddi Front,
Public Image Ltd.,
Robert Hood,
Sandy B,
Camberwell Now,
Fad Gadget,
Harmonia, Harmonia, Harmonia, Harmonia.
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.