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 Ecuador and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Buzzcocks show in Bolton.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Johannesburg.
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 snare 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 Jesper Dahlbäck to the grunge 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 Hasil Adkins. All the underground hits.
All Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every John Coltrane record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bad Manners record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Alarm Clocks,
Johnny Osbourne,
Average White Band,
Henry Cow,
The Doobie Brothers,
Bob Dylan,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Eyeless In Gaza,
KRS-One,
Shoche,
Sixth Finger,
Cymande,
Fatback Band,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Eddi Front,
Heaven 17,
T. Rex,
The Dead C,
One Last Wish,
Colin Newman,
Pet Shop Boys,
Mary Jane Girls,
The Move,
Siglo XX,
The Knickerbockers,
Andrew Hill,
Parry Music,
Minny Pops,
Desert Stars,
Todd Rundgren,
The Fuzztones,
Althea and Donna,
Radiopuhelimet,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Suicide,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
The Saints,
The Moody Blues,
The Fire Engines,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Vainqueur,
Ronnie Foster,
F. McDonald,
The Fortunes,
Essential Logic,
The Seeds,
the Swans,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Davy DMX,
Scrapy,
Mark Hollis,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
The Birthday Party,
The Pop Group,
Unwound,
Mandrill,
Procol Harum,
Joey Negro,
The Toasters, The Toasters, The Toasters, The Toasters.
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.