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 Ecuador and from Seoul.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 synthesizer 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 Quadrant to the rap 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 Marshall Jefferson. All the underground hits.
All Sun Ra Arkestra 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 rap 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 guitar and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Japan record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Mark Hollis,
Q65,
Joey Negro,
LL Cool J,
PIL,
Jeru the Damaja,
The Velvet Underground,
Darondo,
The Human League,
The New Christs,
Oneida,
Newcleus,
Main Source,
Essential Logic,
The Divine Comedy,
Flamin' Groovies,
Banda Bassotti,
Brand Nubian,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Porter Ricks,
Radio Birdman,
Freddie Wadling,
Tom Boy,
Lower 48,
Soul II Soul,
Altered Images,
Severed Heads,
Blancmange,
Scientists,
Japan,
Cymande,
Ohio Players,
The Zeros,
The Fortunes,
Aaron Thompson,
Rotary Connection,
Fear,
Todd Terry,
Sparks,
Gang Green,
Hoover,
Das Ding,
Section 25,
Camouflage,
Adolescents,
Mo-Dettes,
Donny Hathaway,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Warsaw,
The Grass Roots,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Josef K,
Youth Brigade,
The Seeds,
L. Decosne,
Eric Copeland,
Bobby Byrd,
The Gun Club,
Stiv Bators,
Heaven 17,
Shuggie Otis, Shuggie Otis, Shuggie Otis, Shuggie Otis.
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.