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 Iraq and from Salvador.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1963 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Bronski Beat to the grime kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Leonard Cohen. All the underground hits.
All Spandau Ballet tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Robert Hood record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Selecter record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Danielle Patucci,
Grauzone,
Black Moon,
Peter and Kerry,
OOIOO,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Spoonie Gee,
Sonic Youth,
Aural Exciters,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Average White Band,
The Velvet Underground,
Ponytail,
X-102,
Fugazi,
Bad Manners,
Lungfish,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Harry Pussy,
Bobby Byrd,
Mission of Burma,
Gerry Rafferty,
The Young Rascals,
Reuben Wilson,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Sight & Sound,
Idris Muhammad,
Nils Olav,
Mr. Review,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Iggy Pop,
Marmalade,
Wolf Eyes,
The Saints,
The Dead C,
The Grass Roots,
Fort Wilson Riot,
The Raincoats,
Second Layer,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Donald Byrd,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Faust,
Delta 5,
The Pop Group,
Eve St. Jones,
Scott Walker,
Soft Cell,
Gang of Four,
Ultra Naté,
The Star Department,
Bill Near,
Pharoah Sanders,
Harmonia,
Animal Collective,
Fad Gadget,
Qualms,
Nico,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
EPMD,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Groovy Waters, Groovy Waters, Groovy Waters, Groovy Waters.
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.