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 Venezuela and from Sao Paulo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1963 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 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 Leonard Cohen to the funk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Audionom. All the underground hits.
All Blancmange tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Scratch Acid record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Last Poets record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Harmonia,
Mandrill,
T. Rex,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Fugs,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Make Up,
Patti Smith,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
The Raincoats,
Qualms,
Bobby Byrd,
Wire,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Mr. Review,
Kerrie Biddell,
Sight & Sound,
Symarip,
Erasure,
Little Man,
The Stooges,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Gladiators,
John Coltrane,
The Shadows of Knight,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Fat Boys,
Q65,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Last Poets,
The Cramps,
Brand Nubian,
Big Daddy Kane,
Livin' Joy,
Saccharine Trust,
Tubeway Army,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Harry Pussy,
Man Eating Sloth,
Buzzcocks,
Jacques Brel,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Joe Smooth,
Wally Richardson,
Ten City,
Sonny Sharrock,
Babytalk,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Ludus,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Offenders,
The Tremeloes,
Althea and Donna,
The Busters,
Adolescents,
Porter Ricks,
Harpers Bizarre,
The Grass Roots,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Monks, Monks, Monks, Monks.
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.