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 Mozambique and from Taipei.
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 1966 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
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 Vladislav Delay to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 a-ha. All the underground hits.
All The Stooges tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Adolescents record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Laurel Aitken record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Martian,
Echospace,
Swans,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Malaria!,
Radiopuhelimet,
Saccharine Trust,
Scrapy,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
the Swans,
Janne Schatter,
Slick Rick,
The Offenders,
Accadde A,
Jesper Dahlback,
8 Eyed Spy,
The Gladiators,
Connie Case,
The Count Five,
Agent Orange,
Gang Gang Dance,
Surgeon,
The Mummies,
the Soft Cell,
Aswad,
Andrew Hill,
A Certain Ratio,
Bizarre Inc.,
Fear,
Half Japanese,
John Cale,
This Heat,
The Smoke,
Sound Behaviour,
JFA,
Wally Richardson,
The Searchers,
The Vogues,
The J.B.'s,
the Sonics,
Bush Tetras,
The Techniques,
Wasted Youth,
The Invisible,
Pussy Galore,
cv313,
Bill Wells,
Simply Red,
Los Fastidios,
Todd Terry,
Steve Hackett,
Qualms,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Flipper,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Electric Prunes,
Grauzone,
Gastr Del Sol,
Symarip,
Crime,
Lower 48, Lower 48, Lower 48, Lower 48.
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.