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 Egypt and from Mumbai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1961 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Faraquet to the funk 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 Harpers Bizarre. All the underground hits.
All Godley & Creme tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Offenders record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Scratch Acid 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 Last Poets,
Robert Hood,
Pierre Henry,
Mandrill,
Roxette,
Byron Stingily,
Siglo XX,
Ultra Naté,
Lalo Schifrin,
Boredoms,
The Happenings,
Barbara Tucker,
Al Stewart,
Shuggie Otis,
Grey Daturas,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Wasted Youth,
the Sonics,
Laurel Aitken,
June of 44,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Bootsy Collins,
World's Most,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Searchers,
Godley & Creme,
The Raincoats,
Slick Rick,
In Retrospect,
MC5,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Judy Mowatt,
Visage,
Max Romeo,
Deakin,
Unrelated Segments,
Soul Sonic Force,
Guru Guru,
Marine Girls,
Theoretical Girls,
The Alarm Clocks,
Marmalade,
Wolf Eyes,
Scientists,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
One Last Wish,
Althea and Donna,
Ronnie Foster,
Pulsallama,
Andrew Hill,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Jacques Brel,
The Fortunes,
Dark Day,
Dead Boys,
Scan 7,
The Associates,
Unwound,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Derrick May,
Sugar Minott, Sugar Minott, Sugar Minott, Sugar Minott.
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.