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 San Marino and from Toronto.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1967 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 marimba 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 Q and Not U to the techno 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 Freddie Wadling. All the underground hits.
All Rufus Thomas tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Howard Jones record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 linndrum and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Oneida record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Flipper,
Deadbeat,
Roy Ayers,
Michelle Simonal,
The Gap Band,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Minor Threat,
The Flesh Eaters,
Cybotron,
MDC,
Aaron Thompson,
Tom Boy,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Ice-T,
Groovy Waters,
Pulsallama,
Dennis Brown,
Niagra,
Soul II Soul,
Yaz,
Byron Stingily,
Fat Boys,
Bad Manners,
Thee Headcoats,
The Electric Prunes,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Marc Almond,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
The Beau Brummels,
The Angels of Light,
Fatback Band,
OOIOO,
Soft Cell,
Bauhaus,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
the Association,
These Immortal Souls,
Judy Mowatt,
K-Klass,
Deakin,
Big Daddy Kane,
Joe Finger,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Von Mondo,
Motorama,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Ten City,
Ken Boothe,
ABBA,
Mars,
Buzzcocks,
Danielle Patucci,
Fad Gadget,
Rites of Spring,
Laurel Aitken,
Sunsets and Hearts,
CMW,
Fort Wilson Riot,
In Retrospect,
China Crisis,
Janne Schatter,
Brand Nubian,
U.S. Maple, U.S. Maple, U.S. Maple, U.S. Maple.
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.