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 San Marino and from Tehran.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Buzzcocks show in Bolton.
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 1968 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 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 Rekid to the punk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Scrapy. All the underground hits.
All London Community Gospel Choir tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Porter Ricks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Human League record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Slave,
The Happenings,
Gang Starr,
Letta Mbulu,
Goldenarms,
Wally Richardson,
Y Pants,
Ice-T,
The Associates,
Juan Atkins,
Janne Schatter,
Mars,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Soft Cell,
Terry Callier,
Fluxion,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Minutemen,
Blake Baxter,
The Mummies,
Porter Ricks,
Jerry's Kids,
Aswad,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Tremeloes,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Desert Stars,
Loose Ends,
Mantronix,
The Music Machine,
Jeru the Damaja,
Ken Boothe,
Barry Ungar,
Funky Four + One,
Can,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
New Age Steppers,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Sister Nancy,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
John Cale,
Barclay James Harvest,
DNA,
The Shadows of Knight,
Agitation Free,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Slackers,
Quantec,
D'Angelo,
Brass Construction,
Brand Nubian,
Eric Copeland,
The Techniques,
Crash Course in Science,
Minnie Riperton,
Sandy B,
Grey Daturas,
Marc Almond,
The Sonics,
The Detroit Cobras,
Chrome, Chrome, Chrome, Chrome.
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.