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 China and from Halifax.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1960 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 chamberlin 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 Half Japanese to the techno kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Severed Heads. All the underground hits.
All X-102 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bootsy Collins record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sandy B record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Camouflage,
Warren Ellis,
Heaven 17,
Hasil Adkins,
Reagan Youth,
The Buckinghams,
Section 25,
La Düsseldorf,
The Evens,
Monolake,
The Techniques,
Cymande,
Aloha Tigers,
Shuggie Otis,
the Soft Cell,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Modern Lovers,
The Shadows of Knight,
Roxette,
Marshall Jefferson,
Panda Bear,
Von Mondo,
Slave,
Mad Mike,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Marc Almond,
Mars,
Grauzone,
The Gun Club,
Maurizio,
Sex Pistols,
Chris Corsano,
Marvin Gaye,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Buzzcocks,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Easy Going,
Bobbi Humphrey,
David Axelrod,
Japan,
The Names,
Lakeside,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Carl Craig,
Flamin' Groovies,
Youth Brigade,
Gil Scott Heron,
Tim Buckley,
the Swans,
Radiohead,
Franke,
Pet Shop Boys,
EPMD,
Mary Jane Girls,
Funkadelic,
The Knickerbockers, The Knickerbockers, The Knickerbockers, The Knickerbockers.
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.