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 Italy and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 theremin 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 David Axelrod to the grime 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 Crispian St. Peters. All the underground hits.
All Tom Boy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nas 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Barrington Levy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Fuzztones,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
The Sound,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
China Crisis,
T.S.O.L.,
CMW,
Glenn Branca,
Jesper Dahlback,
Erasure,
Bobby Byrd,
Scratch Acid,
The Zeros,
a-ha,
Dennis Brown,
Marc Almond,
The J.B.'s,
Angry Samoans,
Interpol,
Nas,
Electric Prunes,
Dave Gahan,
Con Funk Shun,
Henry Cow,
X-Ray Spex,
The Saints,
E-Dancer,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Hot Snakes,
Can,
Delta 5,
Stiv Bators,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Doobie Brothers,
Wasted Youth,
Ohio Players,
Agitation Free,
The Music Machine,
Soulsonic Force,
10cc,
Ken Boothe,
Patti Smith,
Negative Approach,
the Association,
The Stooges,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Associates,
the Swans,
The Blackbyrds,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Rosa Yemen,
Public Enemy,
Scion,
Lucky Dragons,
The Index,
Amazonics,
Harmonia,
Sexual Harrassment,
In Retrospect,
Robert Wyatt, Robert Wyatt, Robert Wyatt, Robert Wyatt.
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.