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 Namibia and from Glasgow.
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 1960 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 808 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 Lightning Bolt to the punk 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 Scott Walker + Sunn O))). All the underground hits.
All Wally Richardson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eyeless In Gaza record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Radio Birdman record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Divine Comedy,
Severed Heads,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Hasil Adkins,
Pantytec,
Vladislav Delay,
Marvin Gaye,
8 Eyed Spy,
Model 500,
The Index,
Pulsallama,
Second Layer,
Scion,
Donny Hathaway,
Fatback Band,
Ice-T,
John Holt,
The Electric Prunes,
Dawn Penn,
Fela Kuti,
Magma,
Morten Harket,
Black Pus,
Joey Negro,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Wolf Eyes,
The Smoke,
Drexciya,
MDC,
Lower 48,
Byron Stingily,
Sonny Sharrock,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Los Fastidios,
Yusef Lateef,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Techniques,
Anthony Braxton,
the Sonics,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Robert Hood,
Con Funk Shun,
The Mummies,
X-Ray Spex,
Desert Stars,
Accadde A,
Cheater Slicks,
The Leaves,
Fifty Foot Hose,
One Last Wish,
Howard Jones,
Laurel Aitken,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
The Blues Magoos,
Jerry's Kids,
John Coltrane,
Big Daddy Kane,
John Foxx,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Babytalk,
Brass Construction, Brass Construction, Brass Construction, Brass Construction.
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.