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 Palau and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1964 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 David Bowie 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 Trojans to the disco kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Agitation Free. All the underground hits.
All Laurel Aitken tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gang Gang Dance record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ituana record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Sällskapet,
Gong,
The Evens,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Toasters,
Motorama,
Quantec,
China Crisis,
Gil Scott Heron,
ABC,
Boogie Down Productions,
Ponytail,
Sound Behaviour,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Babytalk,
The Cramps,
Aswad,
Nation of Ulysses,
New Order,
Blake Baxter,
Robert Hood,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Last Poets,
Traffic Nightmare,
Lower 48,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Divine Comedy,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Fear,
Cecil Taylor,
ABBA,
Talk Talk,
The Mummies,
Camouflage,
Danielle Patucci,
Rakim,
Soul II Soul,
Marshall Jefferson,
Rosa Yemen,
Jesper Dahlback,
Schoolly D,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Johnny Clarke,
Scientists,
Radiopuhelimet,
Can,
Piero Umiliani,
Bill Near,
Au Pairs,
Ituana,
The Zeros,
The Doobie Brothers,
Black Pus,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Freddie Wadling,
Joe Finger,
Howard Jones,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
New York Dolls, New York Dolls, New York Dolls, New York Dolls.
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.