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 Albania and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1978.
I was there at the first Visage 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 1967 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 Nile Rodgers 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 Cosmic Jokers to the techno kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 The Kinks. All the underground hits.
All Erykah Badu tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Tropical Tobacco record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Crispian St. Peters,
Index,
The Martian,
Bill Near,
Joe Smooth,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
The Misunderstood,
John Lydon,
Yaz,
Joensuu 1685,
Harpers Bizarre,
Dawn Penn,
The Fortunes,
Royal Trux,
KRS-One,
Colin Newman,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Monks,
Crooked Eye,
Maleditus Sound,
Pharoah Sanders,
X-102,
New Order,
Minnie Riperton,
Jimmy McGriff,
Robert Hood,
The Angels of Light,
Scratch Acid,
Glenn Branca,
Sixth Finger,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Fear,
Archie Shepp,
Ronnie Foster,
The Doors,
Boogie Down Productions,
the Germs,
Sonny Sharrock,
Bush Tetras,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Vainqueur,
Cameo,
Pantytec,
Electric Prunes,
Mark Hollis,
Funky Four + One,
Jacques Brel,
AZ,
Youth Brigade,
The Golliwogs,
The Neon Judgement,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Bauhaus,
Zero Boys,
Kevin Saunderson,
Slick Rick,
Von Mondo,
Liliput,
Buzzcocks,
Joe Finger,
Gang Starr,
Aural Exciters,
The Black Dice,
The Buckinghams, The Buckinghams, The Buckinghams, The Buckinghams.
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.