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 Micronesia and from Columbus.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1968 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City 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 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 John Holt to the grunge kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Sound. All the underground hits.
All Gichy Dan tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every David Bowie record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 a clarinet and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lalo Schifrin record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
This Heat,
The Cowsills,
Kayak,
Excepter,
Delon & Dalcan,
Gang Green,
Archie Shepp,
Yusef Lateef,
Mark Hollis,
Kurtis Blow,
OOIOO,
Lou Christie,
Idris Muhammad,
Goldenarms,
Lakeside,
Quantec,
Boz Scaggs,
Iggy Pop,
Pharoah Sanders,
Traffic Nightmare,
Sam Rivers,
Scan 7,
Aloha Tigers,
the Germs,
Black Flag,
Scientists,
DNA,
Ludus,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Glambeats Corp.,
Warsaw,
Severed Heads,
Laurel Aitken,
Sixth Finger,
Sarah Menescal,
Soul II Soul,
Fad Gadget,
Massinfluence,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Little Man,
Trumans Water,
Lindisfarne,
Marvin Gaye,
The Happenings,
Matthew Bourne,
Sly & The Family Stone,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Big Daddy Kane,
The Gories,
Grandmaster Flash,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Tomorrow,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Todd Terry,
Von Mondo,
The Smoke,
Camberwell Now,
Boogie Down Productions,
Ponytail,
Jandek, Jandek, Jandek, Jandek.
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.