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 Mauritius and from Taipei.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1966 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Outsiders to the disco 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 Marine Girls. All the underground hits.
All Radiohead tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every T. Rex record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a David Bowie record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Knickerbockers,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Last Poets,
Warsaw,
Peter & Gordon,
The Residents,
the Normal,
Dark Day,
China Crisis,
Suburban Knight,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
The Monochrome Set,
John Lydon,
The Happenings,
Fad Gadget,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Marcia Griffiths,
Sun City Girls,
Khruangbin,
Glambeats Corp.,
Guru Guru,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Malaria!,
OOIOO,
Zapp,
The Alarm Clocks,
KRS-One,
Quando Quango,
Bang On A Can,
Model 500,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Thompson Twins,
Flash Fearless,
Roxette,
Andrew Hill,
New York Dolls,
The Smiths,
The Seeds,
Moby Grape,
Fatback Band,
Nas,
Interpol,
Marine Girls,
Lucky Dragons,
Tommy Roe,
John Foxx,
Newcleus,
Spoonie Gee,
Ten City,
John Coltrane,
Prince Buster,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Crooked Eye,
Bauhaus,
Monks,
Rufus Thomas,
Royal Trux,
Country Joe & The Fish,
the Germs,
Marc Almond,
Swell Maps,
R.M.O., R.M.O., R.M.O., R.M.O..
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.