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 Malawi and from Seoul.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 Lou Reed 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 Skatalites to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Roy Ayers. All the underground hits.
All Josef K tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Pop Group record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bizarre Inc. 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?
ABC,
the Normal,
Susan Cadogan,
Colin Newman,
Donny Hathaway,
Byron Stingily,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Bauhaus,
The Blues Magoos,
Lou Reed,
Bill Near,
Cybotron,
Country Joe & The Fish,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Qualms,
Scientists,
Roxette,
Quando Quango,
Little Man,
The Busters,
Outsiders,
Glenn Branca,
Vladislav Delay,
Sister Nancy,
Lakeside,
the Soft Cell,
Half Japanese,
Black Moon,
The Buckinghams,
Ultimate Spinach,
Rotary Connection,
T. Rex,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Icehouse,
The Divine Comedy,
LL Cool J,
Robert Görl,
Fluxion,
The Cure,
Alison Limerick,
Blancmange,
Lightning Bolt,
Funkadelic,
The Shadows of Knight,
Maurizio,
Parry Music,
Marmalade,
Amazonics,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Alton Ellis,
D'Angelo,
Ohio Players,
The Offenders,
Organ,
Ice-T,
Prince Buster,
Grey Daturas,
The Associates,
Mantronix,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
B.T. Express,
Fela Kuti, Fela Kuti, Fela Kuti, Fela Kuti.
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.