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 Lesotho and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 Edmonton and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Quadrant to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Scott Walker + Sunn O))). All the underground hits.
All Dawn Penn tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mantronix 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sällskapet record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Derrick May,
Oneida,
The New Christs,
Heaven 17,
Magma,
Joey Negro,
Terrestrial Tones,
Amon Düül II,
Jandek,
Vainqueur,
X-102,
June Days,
The Index,
The Blues Magoos,
Gong,
Marine Girls,
Jacob Miller,
Angry Samoans,
Rakim,
Black Flag,
Babytalk,
Essential Logic,
China Crisis,
Amazonics,
Audionom,
Unrelated Segments,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Joensuu 1685,
Masters at Work,
Jawbox,
Mantronix,
Banda Bassotti,
Glenn Branca,
Sarah Menescal,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Piero Umiliani,
Visage,
Sixth Finger,
The Moody Blues,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Nico,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Reagan Youth,
The Alarm Clocks,
Dorothy Ashby,
Quantec,
Whodini,
Sällskapet,
Second Layer,
Matthew Halsall,
Circle Jerks,
Danielle Patucci,
Rufus Thomas,
The Fuzztones,
R.M.O.,
PIL,
H. Thieme,
The Last Poets,
Supertramp,
The Knickerbockers,
Animal Collective,
Pulsallama, Pulsallama, Pulsallama, Pulsallama.
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.