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 Russia and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 Tom Verlaine 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 the Swans to the grime kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Rosa Yemen. All the underground hits.
All The Sisters of Mercy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eve St. Jones 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kevin Saunderson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Associates,
Ice-T,
E-Dancer,
Archie Shepp,
Tears for Fears,
The Velvet Underground,
John Lydon,
Niagra,
Kerri Chandler,
Guru Guru,
Rekid,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Thompson Twins,
Fear,
The Zeros,
The Gap Band,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Jacob Miller,
Blancmange,
The Doors,
Angry Samoans,
Youth Brigade,
Massinfluence,
Dennis Brown,
Basic Channel,
Ohio Players,
Alison Limerick,
Isaac Hayes,
Todd Terry,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Ossler,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Man Parrish,
Reuben Wilson,
Maurizio,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
These Immortal Souls,
The Fall,
Gong,
Marvin Gaye,
Liliput,
Girls At Our Best!,
Radio Birdman,
Talk Talk,
Howard Jones,
The Stooges,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Alton Ellis,
Arthur Verocai,
Crispian St. Peters,
Suicide,
Ornette Coleman,
Crispy Ambulance,
Frankie Knuckles,
Tropical Tobacco,
James White and The Blacks,
Flash Fearless,
Fugazi, Fugazi, Fugazi, Fugazi.
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.