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 Syria and from Sao Paulo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1964 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 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 The Zeros to the punk 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 Aural Exciters. All the underground hits.
All The Doobie Brothers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Newcleus record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Alice Coltrane record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rod Modell,
The Trojans,
Scion,
Patti Smith,
Silicon Teens,
Robert Wyatt,
James White and The Blacks,
Outsiders,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Aaron Thompson,
Tommy Roe,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
a-ha,
Lungfish,
Sun Ra,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Rotary Connection,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Fela Kuti,
The Doors,
Slick Rick,
Severed Heads,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Motorama,
The Dead C,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
the Soft Cell,
X-Ray Spex,
Ituana,
Glambeats Corp.,
Mary Jane Girls,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Alison Limerick,
Tom Boy,
Scientists,
The Pop Group,
Index,
The Buckinghams,
Laurel Aitken,
Saccharine Trust,
Grauzone,
Surgeon,
Electric Prunes,
Piero Umiliani,
Jacob Miller,
Ohio Players,
China Crisis,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
The Vogues,
Kool Moe Dee,
Pierre Henry,
Donny Hathaway,
K-Klass,
The Kinks,
Groovy Waters,
Althea and Donna,
Skriet,
The New Christs,
New Age Steppers,
Bad Manners,
Jeff Mills, Jeff Mills, Jeff Mills, Jeff Mills.
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.