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 Eritrea and from Madrid.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 Lou Reed 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 the Bar-Kays to the rap kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Gladiators. All the underground hits.
All Blossom Toes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sam Rivers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a John Coltrane record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Shadows of Knight,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The Wake,
Whodini,
Livin' Joy,
The Residents,
Unrelated Segments,
Bobby Byrd,
Marc Almond,
Sight & Sound,
Inner City,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
CMW,
Aloha Tigers,
Thee Headcoats,
The Fuzztones,
Urselle,
David Axelrod,
Lebanon Hanover,
Dual Sessions,
Underground Resistance,
The Human League,
the Association,
X-Ray Spex,
Ossler,
OOIOO,
Flash Fearless,
The New Christs,
Public Enemy,
Jeff Lynne,
Gabor Szabo,
Sex Pistols,
Bronski Beat,
New Order,
Interpol,
Magazine,
Motorama,
Rakim,
David McCallum,
MDC,
These Immortal Souls,
New Age Steppers,
X-102,
Gang Starr,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Groovy Waters,
Icehouse,
Scan 7,
Dorothy Ashby,
a-ha,
Amon Düül II,
Marmalade,
Al Stewart,
The Vogues,
D'Angelo,
Zero Boys,
Moebius,
Lalo Schifrin,
Visage,
Eric Dolphy,
Quadrant, Quadrant, Quadrant, Quadrant.
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.