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 Rwanda and from Accra.
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 1962 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 sitar 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 Larry & the Blue Notes to the grime kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Josef K. All the underground hits.
All Clear Light tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bluetip record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Albert Ayler record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Chrome,
Angry Samoans,
Rotary Connection,
The Pretty Things,
The Young Rascals,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Erasure,
Bronski Beat,
Icehouse,
Letta Mbulu,
Peter and Kerry,
The Monochrome Set,
The Sonics,
Sex Pistols,
One Last Wish,
The Electric Prunes,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Pop Group,
Goldenarms,
Bush Tetras,
The Kinks,
Pylon,
The Misunderstood,
Talk Talk,
Q65,
Anakelly,
Ossler,
Suicide,
Subhumans,
Oneida,
Hashim,
John Lydon,
The Neon Judgement,
Godley & Creme,
Essential Logic,
T.S.O.L.,
Idris Muhammad,
The Selecter,
X-Ray Spex,
The Modern Lovers,
Kayak,
Warren Ellis,
Andrew Hill,
The Gun Club,
Ice-T,
The Doobie Brothers,
a-ha,
Roy Ayers,
Fluxion,
Scratch Acid,
Visage,
D'Angelo,
Susan Cadogan,
Procol Harum,
Boogie Down Productions,
The Moleskins,
Dual Sessions,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Lakeside,
The Associates, The Associates, The Associates, The Associates.
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.