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 Australia and from Mumbai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1965 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos 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 1983 at the first Bronski Beat practice in a loft in Brixton.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 John Cale to the rock 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 kango's stein massive. All the underground hits.
All Tim Buckley tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lower 48 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
the Fania All-Stars,
The United States of America,
Sister Nancy,
Vainqueur,
Rufus Thomas,
Aural Exciters,
The Invisible,
Jimmy McGriff,
Newcleus,
Fat Boys,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
The Velvet Underground,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
World's Most,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
The Toasters,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Hashim,
Marine Girls,
Zapp,
Kas Product,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
These Immortal Souls,
MDC,
Eric Copeland,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Circle Jerks,
K-Klass,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Sparks,
Moebius,
Faust,
Moss Icon,
Kerrie Biddell,
Make Up,
Donald Byrd,
Urselle,
Liliput,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Soulsonic Force,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Moby Grape,
The Dead C,
Easy Going,
The Skatalites,
Harmonia,
Alice Coltrane,
Scott Walker,
Lakeside,
Bill Wells,
Todd Rundgren,
The Trojans,
CMW,
The Red Krayola,
Yellowson,
Groovy Waters,
The Pretty Things,
Half Japanese,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Lightning Bolt, Lightning Bolt, Lightning Bolt, Lightning Bolt.
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.