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 St Kitts & Nevis and from London.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 E-Dancer to the rap 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 Maurizio. All the underground hits.
All Marcia Griffiths tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sandy B 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Theoretical Girls record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
New Order,
The Trojans,
Gabor Szabo,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Aswad,
The Offenders,
Skaos,
Gang Green,
The Invisible,
The Monks,
Kaleidoscope,
The Alarm Clocks,
The Human League,
Yaz,
Babytalk,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Archie Shepp,
Johnny Clarke,
Traffic Nightmare,
Jeff Lynne,
Sonny Sharrock,
Erasure,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Alton Ellis,
Maurizio,
Gang of Four,
Interpol,
X-Ray Spex,
The Leaves,
Wally Richardson,
Rosa Yemen,
Deepchord,
Rakim,
Public Enemy,
Dead Boys,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Thee Headcoats,
Throbbing Gristle,
Simply Red,
Hasil Adkins,
Marvin Gaye,
One Last Wish,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Robert Hood,
Crash Course in Science,
Siglo XX,
Average White Band,
Laurel Aitken,
Tim Buckley,
Jerry Gold Smith,
H. Thieme,
David Axelrod,
Wolf Eyes,
Section 25,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
The Mummies,
Jimmy McGriff,
Ultimate Spinach,
MDC,
Ornette Coleman,
Sight & Sound, Sight & Sound, Sight & Sound, Sight & Sound.
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.