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 Equatorial Guinea and from Milan.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1966 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Johnny Clarke to the rock 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 John Foxx. All the underground hits.
All Aswad tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Deakin record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Vainqueur,
Motorama,
The Remains,
Nirvana,
The Doobie Brothers,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
The Dead C,
Gichy Dan,
Juan Atkins,
Mo-Dettes,
Malaria!,
Lucky Dragons,
Inner City,
Faust,
OOIOO,
EPMD,
Pagans,
Lebanon Hanover,
Flamin' Groovies,
The Grass Roots,
Amon Düül II,
The Pretty Things,
Moss Icon,
10cc,
KRS-One,
Groovy Waters,
Aaron Thompson,
Crooked Eye,
Simply Red,
Michelle Simonal,
The United States of America,
Eric B and Rakim,
Reuben Wilson,
Matthew Bourne,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Scan 7,
Joe Finger,
Pylon,
Q and Not U,
Bill Near,
Tears for Fears,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Gil Scott Heron,
Todd Rundgren,
Big Daddy Kane,
Nation of Ulysses,
Tubeway Army,
Lalo Schifrin,
Tomorrow,
Leonard Cohen,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Jacques Brel,
Eurythmics,
Joensuu 1685,
Subhumans,
The Gories,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
the Normal,
Khruangbin,
Outsiders, Outsiders, Outsiders, Outsiders.
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.