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 Colombia and from Delhi.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 Halifax and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Kenny Larkin to the funk 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 Stetsasonic. All the underground hits.
All Amazonics tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kayak,
The Last Poets,
Marshall Jefferson,
Funky Four + One,
PIL,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Chris & Cosey,
Arab on Radar,
Jimmy McGriff,
The Five Americans,
The Selecter,
X-102,
Man Parrish,
Jerry Gold Smith,
E-Dancer,
Faraquet,
The Shadows of Knight,
Franke,
Judy Mowatt,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Lyres,
Ice-T,
Tom Boy,
Unrelated Segments,
Pole,
Monolake,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Offenders,
Make Up,
The Young Rascals,
Marmalade,
The Electric Prunes,
Erykah Badu,
Wings,
Mantronix,
Porter Ricks,
The Leaves,
The Neon Judgement,
Joyce Sims,
Crooked Eye,
DJ Sneak,
Kas Product,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Loose Ends,
Nas,
The Beau Brummels,
Girls At Our Best!,
Rekid,
The Evens,
Bobby Byrd,
June of 44,
Wally Richardson,
Bob Dylan,
Mars,
Wolf Eyes,
Thompson Twins,
Unwound,
Gong,
Dark Day,
Alice Coltrane,
Talk Talk,
The Sound, The Sound, The Sound, The Sound.
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.