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 Malawi and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 Tokyo and Manchester.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Jandek to the rock 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 Tommy Roe. All the underground hits.
All The Smoke tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sonny Sharrock record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 snare and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Roy Ayers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
R.M.O.,
Rapeman,
F. McDonald,
The Five Americans,
Fluxion,
China Crisis,
Glambeats Corp.,
Erasure,
Harry Pussy,
The Searchers,
Unwound,
The Velvet Underground,
Model 500,
The Young Rascals,
Loose Ends,
Urselle,
Delon & Dalcan,
Metal Thangz,
Au Pairs,
A Certain Ratio,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Niagra,
Robert Wyatt,
Nirvana,
Outsiders,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Heaven 17,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
The Angels of Light,
Alphaville,
Yellowson,
Surgeon,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Warren Ellis,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Thee Headcoats,
The Wake,
The Zeros,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Chris & Cosey,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Harmonia,
Neil Young,
Procol Harum,
Infiniti,
The Cure,
London Community Gospel Choir,
The Gories,
Moss Icon,
Minutemen,
Marine Girls,
Oneida,
Ludus,
Rites of Spring,
Severed Heads,
Camberwell Now,
Magma,
Second Layer,
Clear Light,
The Human League,
The Shadows of Knight,
JFA, JFA, JFA, JFA.
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.