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 Equatorial Guinea and from Madrid.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1961 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Youth Brigade to the funk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 The Alarm Clocks. All the underground hits.
All The Move tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Albert Ayler record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Joe Smooth record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Human League,
Bauhaus,
Marine Girls,
Ludus,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The Modern Lovers,
Barbara Tucker,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Index,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Easy Going,
Bootsy Collins,
Quantec,
Donald Byrd,
James White and The Blacks,
Parry Music,
The Red Krayola,
Lyres,
Minutemen,
Ultravox,
Radiohead,
The Move,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Fear,
China Crisis,
the Germs,
Mark Hollis,
The Misunderstood,
Soul Sonic Force,
Alison Limerick,
Arab on Radar,
Reagan Youth,
Eric Dolphy,
DNA,
MC5,
Black Bananas,
Pylon,
Anthony Braxton,
Warsaw,
The Doobie Brothers,
Underground Resistance,
T. Rex,
Clear Light,
Ten City,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Marmalade,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Matthew Halsall,
PIL,
The Star Department,
Eric Copeland,
New York Dolls,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Young Rascals,
the Association,
Gang of Four,
Jimmy McGriff,
Sun Ra,
Thompson Twins,
E-Dancer,
The Durutti Column,
Fort Wilson Riot, Fort Wilson Riot, Fort Wilson Riot, Fort Wilson Riot.
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.