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 Korea South and from Taipei.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Houston.
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 arpeggiator 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 Pagans to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 X-Ray Spex. All the underground hits.
All Lizzy Mercier Descloux tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fear record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a 10cc record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
PIL,
The Dave Clark Five,
Cybotron,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Cal Tjader,
The Grass Roots,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Howard Jones,
Scientists,
Pere Ubu,
T. Rex,
Grey Daturas,
Essential Logic,
Depeche Mode,
DNA,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Letta Mbulu,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Grandmaster Flash,
Bang On A Can,
Dennis Brown,
Schoolly D,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Scion,
Boz Scaggs,
Vainqueur,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Swans,
Aloha Tigers,
H. Thieme,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Standells,
Bill Wells,
Nirvana,
Ohio Players,
Peter & Gordon,
Fat Boys,
Erasure,
Donny Hathaway,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Heaven 17,
the Normal,
The Move,
The Electric Prunes,
The Flesh Eaters,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
New Age Steppers,
Visage,
The Fire Engines,
Electric Prunes,
Connie Case,
The Raincoats,
The Dead C,
Faraquet,
Matthew Bourne,
The Trojans,
Youth Brigade,
Intrusion,
The Last Poets,
Shoche,
D'Angelo, D'Angelo, D'Angelo, D'Angelo.
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.