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 Bulgaria and from Glasgow.
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 1969 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Lafayette Afro Rock Band to the electroclash kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Anakelly. All the underground hits.
All Erykah Badu tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Slits 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Offenders record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
ABBA,
Japan,
Subhumans,
Fad Gadget,
Pole,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Charles Mingus,
Gang of Four,
Stereo Dub,
Sound Behaviour,
Johnny Osbourne,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Brick,
Quantec,
The Move,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Eden Ahbez,
Duran Duran,
One Last Wish,
Joyce Sims,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Brass Construction,
Sonny Sharrock,
Dennis Brown,
Public Enemy,
Make Up,
Patti Smith,
Crash Course in Science,
Wolf Eyes,
F. McDonald,
Excepter,
Sugar Minott,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Mark Hollis,
Second Layer,
Zapp,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Cybotron,
Funkadelic,
China Crisis,
Au Pairs,
Sexual Harrassment,
The Raincoats,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Clear Light,
The Modern Lovers,
The Offenders,
Goldenarms,
A Flock of Seagulls,
The Gap Band,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Delon & Dalcan,
Blancmange,
Basic Channel,
The Young Rascals,
Fatback Band,
Cheater Slicks,
The J.B.'s,
Urselle,
Rapeman,
Avey Tare,
Moebius,
E-Dancer,
Peter & Gordon, Peter & Gordon, Peter & Gordon, Peter & Gordon.
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.