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 Rwanda and from London.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Magazine to the techno kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Names. All the underground hits.
All Second Layer tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Soul II Soul record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Max Romeo record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Residents,
Warsaw,
China Crisis,
The Knickerbockers,
Donny Hathaway,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Guru Guru,
Black Bananas,
OOIOO,
The Misunderstood,
Hot Snakes,
Dave Gahan,
Youth Brigade,
Don Cherry,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Radio Birdman,
The Birthday Party,
Deepchord,
Malaria!,
Cecil Taylor,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Spandau Ballet,
Todd Rundgren,
Reuben Wilson,
Bauhaus,
Scientists,
The Smoke,
Blake Baxter,
Sparks,
Loose Ends,
Jacques Brel,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
The Kinks,
Girls At Our Best!,
Bootsy Collins,
The Pop Group,
Pharoah Sanders,
Ohio Players,
Rakim,
Yazoo,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Dead C,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
This Heat,
Television,
Cheater Slicks,
Visage,
Sam Rivers,
Rufus Thomas,
Intrusion,
Toni Rubio,
Flamin' Groovies,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Neon Judgement,
Roxette,
The Sound,
Bobby Sherman,
Sugar Minott,
Amon Düül,
The Smiths,
The Selecter, The Selecter, The Selecter, The Selecter.
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.