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 Turkmenistan and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Art of Noise show in London.
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 1960 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Toronto.
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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Derrick May to the funk 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 Neil Young & Crazy Horse. All the underground hits.
All Jerry's Kids tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ice-T record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
It's A Beautiful Day,
Jerry's Kids,
X-101,
The Blues Magoos,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Frankie Knuckles,
Blake Baxter,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Magma,
The Grass Roots,
The Divine Comedy,
Mo-Dettes,
Interpol,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Jawbox,
Sugar Minott,
Carl Craig,
The Invisible,
Derrick Morgan,
Todd Rundgren,
Kurtis Blow,
Pet Shop Boys,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Music Machine,
the Fania All-Stars,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Barrington Levy,
Amazonics,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Kenny Larkin,
The Detroit Cobras,
Buzzcocks,
Ludus,
Matthew Halsall,
the Slits,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Archie Shepp,
Cal Tjader,
Pole,
The Red Krayola,
Curtis Mayfield,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
David McCallum,
Qualms,
the Association,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
The Skatalites,
Groovy Waters,
Dead Boys,
Dawn Penn,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
The Searchers,
Silicon Teens,
Newcleus,
Colin Newman,
Black Bananas,
Soulsonic Force,
Rod Modell,
The Wake, The Wake, The Wake, The Wake.
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.