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 Kiribati and from Cairo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 Robert Palmer 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 Minny Pops to the techno 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 the Fania All-Stars. All the underground hits.
All Fat Boys tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The New Christs record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 a snare and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lalann record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Pylon,
Goldenarms,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Symarip,
Cameo,
The Slackers,
Delon & Dalcan,
The Index,
Quantec,
Marshall Jefferson,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Scion,
Scott Walker,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Crash Course in Science,
Connie Case,
Brand Nubian,
Porter Ricks,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Fugazi,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
The Alarm Clocks,
Khruangbin,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Boogie Down Productions,
Dawn Penn,
Los Fastidios,
The Vogues,
AZ,
Magma,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Neon Judgement,
Robert Görl,
Scrapy,
The Human League,
Matthew Halsall,
X-Ray Spex,
Banda Bassotti,
Gregory Isaacs,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Eric B and Rakim,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Faust,
Gil Scott Heron,
Theoretical Girls,
U.S. Maple,
Sun Ra,
X-101,
OOIOO,
Eddi Front,
Mr. Review,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Icehouse,
Negative Approach,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Lou Christie,
The Birthday Party,
Adolescents,
Electric Prunes,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Laurel Aitken,
Eric Copeland, Eric Copeland, Eric Copeland, Eric Copeland.
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.