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 India and from Copenhagen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1969 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 theremin 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 Manfred Mann's Earth Band to the techno kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Echo & the Bunnymen. All the underground hits.
All Derrick May tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Deepchord record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Hasil Adkins record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Simply Red,
Moss Icon,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Public Image Ltd.,
Pantytec,
Lightning Bolt,
Visage,
The Mummies,
The Raincoats,
Magma,
X-101,
Fad Gadget,
Gregory Isaacs,
Wings,
Pulsallama,
Tres Demented,
Gang Green,
Young Marble Giants,
Camberwell Now,
The Modern Lovers,
Negative Approach,
Lebanon Hanover,
Desert Stars,
Ralphi Rosario,
KRS-One,
Henry Cow,
Qualms,
Outsiders,
The Smoke,
Amazonics,
the Normal,
Agent Orange,
Joyce Sims,
Rakim,
Fugazi,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Severed Heads,
The Vogues,
Chrome,
Aural Exciters,
Marine Girls,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Chris & Cosey,
The Searchers,
The Last Poets,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
8 Eyed Spy,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Hasil Adkins,
Half Japanese,
Lakeside,
Dennis Brown,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
the Sonics,
Erykah Badu,
Drive Like Jehu,
Smog,
The Associates,
Kayak,
the Human League,
Kurtis Blow,
Interpol,
Peter & Gordon, Peter & Gordon, Peter & Gordon, Peter & Gordon.
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.