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 Niger and from Beijing.
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 1961 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Bob Dylan to the funk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 AZ. All the underground hits.
All Royal Trux tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Quantec record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 marimba and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Cramps record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Wings,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Silicon Teens,
Flash Fearless,
Second Layer,
Girls At Our Best!,
Eurythmics,
Davy DMX,
Nas,
Derrick Morgan,
10cc,
Basic Channel,
Little Man,
K-Klass,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Nation of Ulysses,
Fatback Band,
Goldenarms,
Y Pants,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Sam Rivers,
Talk Talk,
The Tremeloes,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Niagra,
Man Eating Sloth,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Swans,
The United States of America,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Eve St. Jones,
Mantronix,
Letta Mbulu,
Roxy Music,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Albert Ayler,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Last Poets,
Glenn Branca,
The Monks,
Al Stewart,
Cheater Slicks,
Soul Sonic Force,
Judy Mowatt,
Gong,
The Durutti Column,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Q and Not U,
The Happenings,
Junior Murvin,
Lakeside,
Josef K,
Mr. Review,
Sonic Youth,
Rekid,
The Golliwogs,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Morten Harket,
Rhythm & Sound,
Chris Corsano,
The Selecter,
Skarface,
Ultra Naté,
Heaven 17, Heaven 17, Heaven 17, Heaven 17.
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.