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 Mauritania and from Houston.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1965 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish to the grime kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Erykah Badu. All the underground hits.
All Wally Richardson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every the Slits 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Blossom Toes record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jeff Lynne,
Desert Stars,
10cc,
Young Marble Giants,
The Evens,
B.T. Express,
Rakim,
Ultra Naté,
Alice Coltrane,
Tears for Fears,
The Neon Judgement,
Vainqueur,
the Normal,
The Moleskins,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Newcleus,
Interpol,
Yazoo,
Saccharine Trust,
Frankie Knuckles,
Mr. Review,
Excepter,
Television,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Circle Jerks,
Gregory Isaacs,
Slick Rick,
James White and The Blacks,
Isaac Hayes,
Spoonie Gee,
Crooked Eye,
Brick,
Oblivians,
Sarah Menescal,
K-Klass,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Lower 48,
CMW,
Au Pairs,
Duran Duran,
Juan Atkins,
Camberwell Now,
Barclay James Harvest,
La Düsseldorf,
Half Japanese,
The Fortunes,
Barry Ungar,
Girls At Our Best!,
Drive Like Jehu,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Pharoah Sanders,
Tommy Roe,
Minny Pops,
The Gladiators,
Royal Trux,
Ralphi Rosario,
Don Cherry,
X-Ray Spex,
The Toasters,
Lucky Dragons,
Marvin Gaye,
Symarip, Symarip, Symarip, Symarip.
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.