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 Malawi and from Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 Hong Kong and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 The Pretty Things to the dance kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Curtis Mayfield. All the underground hits.
All Bootsy's Rubber Band tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every JFA record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 clarinet and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Roy Ayers Ubiquity record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Detroit Cobras,
Lee Hazlewood,
The J.B.'s,
Suburban Knight,
Terry Callier,
Mo-Dettes,
Flipper,
Graham Central Station,
Barbara Tucker,
Charles Mingus,
The Neon Judgement,
Barclay James Harvest,
MDC,
The Trojans,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Skriet,
Stiv Bators,
the Human League,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Bang On A Can,
Anakelly,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Warren Ellis,
Kevin Saunderson,
The Victims,
Icehouse,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Skaos,
The Smiths,
The Black Dice,
The Alarm Clocks,
Erykah Badu,
Freddie Wadling,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
PIL,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Agent Orange,
Whodini,
The Buckinghams,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Stetsasonic,
Electric Prunes,
Maurizio,
Gastr Del Sol,
Donny Hathaway,
Ten City,
X-Ray Spex,
Average White Band,
Grauzone,
Nik Kershaw,
Crispy Ambulance,
Echospace,
Country Teasers,
Letta Mbulu,
Nico,
Make Up,
Camouflage,
The Blackbyrds,
The Remains,
Black Sheep, Black Sheep, Black Sheep, Black Sheep.
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.