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 Jamaica and from Lyon.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1968 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 mellotron 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 Agitation Free to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Guru Guru. All the underground hits.
All Godley & Creme tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sexual Harrassment 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 '70s 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 Warren Ellis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Malaria!,
Lalo Schifrin,
The Blackbyrds,
Bill Near,
Depeche Mode,
Dual Sessions,
the Bar-Kays,
Wire,
Tim Buckley,
The Flesh Eaters,
Television Personalities,
The Index,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Bauhaus,
Lee Hazlewood,
Jacob Miller,
The Sonics,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
John Holt,
Davy DMX,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Duran Duran,
Jesper Dahlback,
Radio Birdman,
The Leaves,
Wally Richardson,
Suburban Knight,
Popol Vuh,
Crime,
The Smiths,
Mo-Dettes,
Aloha Tigers,
Morten Harket,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
The Fuzztones,
Infiniti,
Ken Boothe,
Kool Moe Dee,
Fugazi,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Chrome,
Toni Rubio,
Accadde A,
Television,
Gastr Del Sol,
Big Daddy Kane,
Ornette Coleman,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Modern Lovers,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Ralphi Rosario,
Jeff Mills,
Bobby Womack,
Hoover,
The Saints,
Cal Tjader,
Crooked Eye,
Radiohead,
John Cale, John Cale, John Cale, John Cale.
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.