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 Austria and from Manchester.
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 1960 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 1980 at the first Cybotron practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the mellotron 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 Grandmaster Flash to the rap kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Sixth Finger. All the underground hits.
All The Offenders tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Buzzcocks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Excepter record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The United States of America,
Cymande,
Sexual Harrassment,
Eric Dolphy,
Arthur Verocai,
Nico,
8 Eyed Spy,
X-101,
Skarface,
Barry Ungar,
Amon Düül,
Pylon,
Morten Harket,
The J.B.'s,
48th St. Collective,
Adolescents,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
The Fortunes,
Pantaleimon,
Pantytec,
Patti Smith,
The Mojo Men,
Soul II Soul,
Soulsonic Force,
The Saints,
Gabor Szabo,
Althea and Donna,
Jacques Brel,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Grass Roots,
Radio Birdman,
X-Ray Spex,
The Dirtbombs,
Little Man,
Banda Bassotti,
The Kinks,
Lalo Schifrin,
the Human League,
Bob Dylan,
Pierre Henry,
Chrome,
Guru Guru,
Wings,
Robert Görl,
T.S.O.L.,
Letta Mbulu,
Godley & Creme,
Dorothy Ashby,
Eric B and Rakim,
Boogie Down Productions,
Crime,
Lalann,
Scientists,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Peter and Kerry,
Can,
ABC,
A Certain Ratio,
Dark Day,
Harpers Bizarre,
The Tremeloes, The Tremeloes, The Tremeloes, The Tremeloes.
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.