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 Vietnam and from Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 Lou Reed 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 Groovy Waters to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Graham Central Station. All the underground hits.
All Crooked Eye tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Chris & Cosey record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 synthesizer and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Isaac Hayes record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Darondo,
Judy Mowatt,
Adolescents,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Bobby Hutcherson,
These Immortal Souls,
Howard Jones,
Yusef Lateef,
The Detroit Cobras,
Section 25,
Ponytail,
Tommy Roe,
Robert Hood,
The Move,
Aswad,
The Saints,
The Flesh Eaters,
Fela Kuti,
Bob Dylan,
Public Enemy,
Chrome,
Desert Stars,
Hashim,
The Barracudas,
Pussy Galore,
Anakelly,
Lyres,
Warren Ellis,
Trumans Water,
Joey Negro,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Lindisfarne,
The Birthday Party,
Black Pus,
the Bar-Kays,
Urselle,
Outsiders,
Das Ding,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Arthur Verocai,
Eurythmics,
Cecil Taylor,
OOIOO,
The Shadows of Knight,
New Age Steppers,
Franke,
Pharoah Sanders,
Dennis Brown,
Jeff Lynne,
Morten Harket,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
James White and The Blacks,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Last Poets,
Mr. Review,
Gang Green,
Minny Pops,
Inner City,
The Tremeloes,
Fat Boys,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Soft Machine,
L. Decosne, L. Decosne, L. Decosne, L. Decosne.
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.