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 Brunei and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1978.
I was there at the first Visage 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 1969 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Swell Maps to the grime kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Josef K. All the underground hits.
All Fela Kuti tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ornette Coleman record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 synthesizer and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sugar Minott record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bang On A Can,
Gabor Szabo,
Boredoms,
Marshall Jefferson,
Tres Demented,
Stockholm Monsters,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Lalo Schifrin,
Mo-Dettes,
Outsiders,
The Dave Clark Five,
Slick Rick,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Essential Logic,
Kaleidoscope,
Quantec,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Ten City,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Tim Buckley,
Skriet,
Jimmy McGriff,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Deadbeat,
Tropical Tobacco,
Bluetip,
Sister Nancy,
The Shadows of Knight,
Franke,
Marvin Gaye,
Khruangbin,
The Human League,
Ralphi Rosario,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Chris Corsano,
Radiopuhelimet,
Echospace,
Jacques Brel,
Grauzone,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Sonny Sharrock,
Bill Wells,
The Cure,
Cymande,
Sun Ra,
Procol Harum,
Subhumans,
Gang of Four,
Frankie Knuckles,
Neil Young,
Monks,
The Fire Engines,
Soul Sonic Force,
Aswad,
Clear Light,
Flamin' Groovies,
Patti Smith,
The Remains,
UT,
Flash Fearless,
the Soft Cell, the Soft Cell, the Soft Cell, the Soft Cell.
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.