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 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 1965 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Houston.
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 güiro 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 The Peanut Butter Conspiracy to the rap kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Rites of Spring. All the underground hits.
All Aloha Tigers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Monolake record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 an oboe and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Oneida record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Crispy Ambulance,
Masters at Work,
The Durutti Column,
Absolute Body Control,
Radiohead,
Crooked Eye,
Kerri Chandler,
Monks,
the Fania All-Stars,
Silicon Teens,
Thompson Twins,
Ludus,
Marc Almond,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Can,
Livin' Joy,
Funkadelic,
Suburban Knight,
Cymande,
The Trojans,
10cc,
Faust,
Crash Course in Science,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Boredoms,
Panda Bear,
DJ Sneak,
Eric Copeland,
Cal Tjader,
Hardrive,
Marmalade,
Hasil Adkins,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Tubeway Army,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
MC5,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Mantronix,
Byron Stingily,
Nick Fraelich,
Tim Buckley,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Fela Kuti,
Minutemen,
Flamin' Groovies,
Jacob Miller,
Oneida,
LL Cool J,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Malaria!,
Bobby Sherman,
Qualms,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Smoke,
Sister Nancy,
The Move,
Deadbeat,
Sight & Sound,
Susan Cadogan,
The Music Machine,
Siglo XX,
Barbara Tucker,
The Raincoats, The Raincoats, The Raincoats, The Raincoats.
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.