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 Niger and from Tokyo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 Accra and New York.
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 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 Mo-Dettes to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Skaos. All the underground hits.
All Yusef Lateef tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Marcia Griffiths 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Prince Buster record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Godley & Creme,
Vladislav Delay,
D'Angelo,
Ronnie Foster,
Subhumans,
Marine Girls,
The Divine Comedy,
Excepter,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Amon Düül II,
Television,
Todd Rundgren,
Pylon,
The Associates,
Tres Demented,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Los Fastidios,
Rosa Yemen,
Marvin Gaye,
ABC,
The Raincoats,
Funkadelic,
Sight & Sound,
Soul II Soul,
Sex Pistols,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Television Personalities,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Ultravox,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Roxette,
Faraquet,
Interpol,
X-Ray Spex,
Danielle Patucci,
Cybotron,
Cameo,
The Stooges,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Moss Icon,
Inner City,
Kerri Chandler,
DJ Style,
Public Enemy,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Zero Boys,
Shuggie Otis,
Procol Harum,
Erykah Badu,
Thee Headcoats,
John Cale,
Fat Boys,
Intrusion,
Gang of Four,
Laurel Aitken,
The Music Machine,
Lindisfarne,
Henry Cow,
Roger Hodgson,
Quantec,
Bronski Beat,
ABBA,
Mantronix, Mantronix, Mantronix, Mantronix.
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.