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 Togo and from Glasgow.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Dawn Penn to the grime kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Rakim. All the underground hits.
All Sun City Girls tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Camberwell Now record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Fugs record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kool Moe Dee,
Leonard Cohen,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Brick,
Intrusion,
Japan,
Faraquet,
Slick Rick,
Pulsallama,
Sight & Sound,
Traffic Nightmare,
the Association,
Rotary Connection,
Skarface,
Monolake,
Jacob Miller,
Barry Ungar,
Harry Pussy,
Nico,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Flamin' Groovies,
Alton Ellis,
Wings,
Nas,
PIL,
Technova,
Outsiders,
Monks,
Desert Stars,
Black Bananas,
The Cowsills,
Bill Wells,
The J.B.'s,
Ponytail,
Idris Muhammad,
Animal Collective,
Schoolly D,
Motorama,
Visage,
The Mummies,
Todd Rundgren,
Quadrant,
John Holt,
Popol Vuh,
Anthony Braxton,
Quantec,
Vladislav Delay,
The Raincoats,
Magma,
New Age Steppers,
This Heat,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Fela Kuti,
Whodini,
Pere Ubu,
MDC,
Sixth Finger,
Judy Mowatt,
The Busters,
Warren Ellis,
Swell Maps,
The Evens, The Evens, The Evens, The Evens.
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.