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 Albania and from Bremen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia show in London.
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 1968 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Sandy B to the jazz kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Eyeless In Gaza. All the underground hits.
All Barrington Levy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Manfred Mann's Earth Band 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Terrestrial Tones record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Stiv Bators,
the Normal,
Stetsasonic,
Jandek,
U.S. Maple,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Happenings,
Hoover,
Alphaville,
Jimmy McGriff,
The Red Krayola,
Radiohead,
Boogie Down Productions,
Henry Cow,
Blancmange,
The Move,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Camouflage,
The Zeros,
Minor Threat,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Nas,
Eric Dolphy,
Ornette Coleman,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Bobby Womack,
Rosa Yemen,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Minnie Riperton,
Tomorrow,
Underground Resistance,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Soul II Soul,
Dave Gahan,
Zapp,
The Gories,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Matthew Halsall,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Flesh Eaters,
Panda Bear,
The Barracudas,
Ituana,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
The Evens,
Kerri Chandler,
Whodini,
Mandrill,
Half Japanese,
The Human League,
Delon & Dalcan,
Donny Hathaway,
Sexual Harrassment,
New Age Steppers,
Dawn Penn,
The Doobie Brothers,
Soul Sonic Force,
Pylon, Pylon, Pylon, Pylon.
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.