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 Brazil and from Madrid.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1963 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 marimba 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 Johnny Clarke to the dance kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Kevin Saunderson. All the underground hits.
All Bobby Hutcherson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bush Tetras record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 spring reverb and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Parry Music record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
MC5,
Marine Girls,
David McCallum,
Funkadelic,
the Swans,
Lyres,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Nation of Ulysses,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Nirvana,
Letta Mbulu,
The Mojo Men,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Brothers Johnson,
Bronski Beat,
Colin Newman,
Minny Pops,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Alarm Clocks,
Pulsallama,
The Selecter,
Symarip,
Flipper,
The Kinks,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Ludus,
Moss Icon,
Ossler,
The Names,
The Birthday Party,
The Sound,
Sex Pistols,
Lindisfarne,
The Raincoats,
The Toasters,
Jimmy McGriff,
The Slackers,
Eric Copeland,
Black Bananas,
Godley & Creme,
Fatback Band,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Skarface,
Avey Tare,
Roger Hodgson,
Amazonics,
Ten City,
Crispy Ambulance,
The Music Machine,
Niagra,
Newcleus,
Gabor Szabo,
The Black Dice,
Sexual Harrassment,
The Gories,
Inner City,
Delon & Dalcan,
Soulsonic Force,
the Association,
Lucky Dragons,
Pole,
Alphaville, Alphaville, Alphaville, Alphaville.
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.