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 Guinea and from Columbus.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia show in 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 1965 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Yusef Lateef to the grime 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 Byron Stingily. All the underground hits.
All Sandy B tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Interpol record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Oneida record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fatback Band,
Reagan Youth,
Gong,
Scrapy,
Vainqueur,
Cymande,
Donny Hathaway,
Ultravox,
Oneida,
Ronan,
Severed Heads,
Crime,
The Kinks,
The Golliwogs,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Wasted Youth,
Simply Red,
Sonny Sharrock,
Pharoah Sanders,
Stockholm Monsters,
Smog,
the Human League,
Accadde A,
Patti Smith,
World's Most,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Mojo Men,
Max Romeo,
cv313,
the Normal,
Young Marble Giants,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Das Ding,
Barry Ungar,
Gang Green,
Depeche Mode,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Ultra Naté,
Brick,
Nirvana,
Icehouse,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Names,
Aswad,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
La Düsseldorf,
Buzzcocks,
Magma,
The Last Poets,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Warsaw,
Steve Hackett,
The Remains,
Kas Product,
Terry Callier,
Funky Four + One,
Hot Snakes,
ABBA,
Ornette Coleman,
Pantytec,
Sun City Girls,
Excepter,
The Victims, The Victims, The Victims, The Victims.
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.