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 Poland and from Winnipeg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1980.
I was there at the first Cybotron 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 1969 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 David Bowie 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 Lower 48 to the disco kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Kango’s Stein Massive. All the underground hits.
All Johnny Osbourne tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sparks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a In Retrospect record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum 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 Martian,
Electric Prunes,
Roxette,
Camouflage,
Sexual Harrassment,
Juan Atkins,
Bronski Beat,
The Music Machine,
Fat Boys,
The Last Poets,
Traffic Nightmare,
The Walker Brothers,
Black Pus,
Rhythm & Sound,
Groovy Waters,
Au Pairs,
Iggy Pop,
Gang of Four,
Technova,
LL Cool J,
Amazonics,
Boredoms,
Subhumans,
D'Angelo,
Minor Threat,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Lightning Bolt,
Dave Gahan,
Alphaville,
The Leaves,
Tim Buckley,
Al Stewart,
Monolake,
Swell Maps,
Chrome,
La Düsseldorf,
Johnny Clarke,
Deepchord,
Scion,
Talk Talk,
Junior Murvin,
Black Flag,
Gang Starr,
The Moleskins,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Jawbox,
Oblivians,
David McCallum,
The Skatalites,
MDC,
The Kinks,
Camberwell Now,
Mandrill,
Stiv Bators,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Smoke,
Black Bananas,
Popol Vuh,
The Star Department,
The Velvet Underground,
The Five Americans,
The Techniques, The Techniques, The Techniques, The Techniques.
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.