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 1983.
I was there at the first Art of Noise 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 1962 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 Robert Palmer 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 Soft Cell to the rap kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Leonard Cohen. All the underground hits.
All Nirvana tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pylon record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 spring reverb and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Con Funk Shun,
Pagans,
Lyres,
Funky Four + One,
The Blackbyrds,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Monks,
Cal Tjader,
Kool Moe Dee,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Kevin Saunderson,
Television Personalities,
Moss Icon,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Iggy Pop,
The Slackers,
Connie Case,
Silicon Teens,
Pierre Henry,
Barclay James Harvest,
Bad Manners,
Soul II Soul,
Barrington Levy,
The Divine Comedy,
Skarface,
Franke,
Stiv Bators,
Max Romeo,
The Searchers,
Duran Duran,
Stetsasonic,
Robert Hood,
Kerrie Biddell,
Dark Day,
Howard Jones,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Mission of Burma,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Tommy Roe,
the Bar-Kays,
The Slits,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Deakin,
Rosa Yemen,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Sixth Finger,
Peter and Kerry,
Animal Collective,
Hashim,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Bobby Byrd,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Radio Birdman,
Thee Headcoats,
Kaleidoscope,
Althea and Donna,
The Count Five,
Gang of Four,
Vainqueur,
Eric B and Rakim,
Scan 7,
Ornette Coleman,
Boredoms, Boredoms, Boredoms, Boredoms.
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.