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 Qatar and from Accra.
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 1968 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 chamberlin 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 Colin Newman to the dance 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 Interpol. All the underground hits.
All Cabaret Voltaire tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Letta Mbulu record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kenny Larkin record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Boogie Down Productions,
Darondo,
Alphaville,
Delon & Dalcan,
Sällskapet,
Bauhaus,
Absolute Body Control,
John Foxx,
Althea and Donna,
Gastr Del Sol,
Black Flag,
Reagan Youth,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
PIL,
Make Up,
Half Japanese,
The Mummies,
Anakelly,
Warsaw,
Marc Almond,
Ohio Players,
Soul Sonic Force,
Minny Pops,
Hasil Adkins,
This Heat,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Crispy Ambulance,
Audionom,
June of 44,
Boz Scaggs,
Fela Kuti,
Infiniti,
The Moody Blues,
Dark Day,
Magazine,
Man Parrish,
Stereo Dub,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
the Human League,
Negative Approach,
Rotary Connection,
Pierre Henry,
Hashim,
Amon Düül II,
Simply Red,
the Bar-Kays,
The Count Five,
Aloha Tigers,
Joey Negro,
Country Teasers,
Wasted Youth,
Henry Cow,
The Kinks,
Slick Rick,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Suicide,
Jesper Dahlback,
Grauzone,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Second Layer,
Tim Buckley,
FM Einheit,
Stiv Bators, Stiv Bators, Stiv Bators, Stiv Bators.
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.