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 Somalia and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Wire show in Watford.
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 1963 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 synthesizer 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 Rekid to the rock kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 the Fania All-Stars. All the underground hits.
All Soul II Soul tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Leonard Cohen 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nirvana record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Soul Sonic Force,
Essential Logic,
Lalann,
The Walker Brothers,
The Blues Magoos,
DNA,
Saccharine Trust,
Glambeats Corp.,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
The Smiths,
Metal Thangz,
Mr. Review,
Rites of Spring,
Derrick Morgan,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Index,
The Offenders,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
10cc,
OOIOO,
Echospace,
David Bowie,
The Fuzztones,
The Busters,
Moby Grape,
John Foxx,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
DJ Style,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Porter Ricks,
Fatback Band,
Kerri Chandler,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Gladiators,
Fat Boys,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Yusef Lateef,
Aural Exciters,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Mojo Men,
Deepchord,
Johnny Osbourne,
Kurtis Blow,
Lou Reed,
Mark Hollis,
Sound Behaviour,
Cluster,
The Music Machine,
Letta Mbulu,
A Certain Ratio,
Drexciya,
Visage,
Scratch Acid,
Erykah Badu,
Little Man,
Matthew Halsall,
John Holt,
Rotary Connection,
Desert Stars,
Funkadelic,
Eve St. Jones,
Byron Stingily, Byron Stingily, Byron Stingily, Byron Stingily.
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.