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 Eritrea and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1967 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 rhodes 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 Donald Byrd to the grime 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 Traffic Nightmare. All the underground hits.
All Sister Nancy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 rhodes and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Traffic Nightmare record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Raincoats,
Hoover,
Alphaville,
Fluxion,
Crash Course in Science,
Lightning Bolt,
Lalo Schifrin,
Black Pus,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Dawn Penn,
Ken Boothe,
New Order,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Letta Mbulu,
Ronan,
Toni Rubio,
Roxette,
Blossom Toes,
The Blues Magoos,
Pylon,
Kool Moe Dee,
Freddie Wadling,
Tres Demented,
Mad Mike,
Max Romeo,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Graham Central Station,
Eurythmics,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Faraquet,
Bush Tetras,
Pole,
Altered Images,
Eden Ahbez,
The Happenings,
Amazonics,
Lyres,
Johnny Clarke,
Moss Icon,
Ralphi Rosario,
The Star Department,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Animal Collective,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
New Age Steppers,
Albert Ayler,
the Human League,
Curtis Mayfield,
Morten Harket,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Sound Behaviour,
Sparks,
F. McDonald,
Radio Birdman,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Hot Snakes,
Sam Rivers,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Marcia Griffiths, Marcia Griffiths, Marcia Griffiths, Marcia Griffiths.
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.