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 Pakistan and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South 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 1966 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 rhodes 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 Eric B and Rakim to the rock 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 FM Einheit. All the underground hits.
All Radio Birdman tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ultra Naté 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Whodini record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Wire,
Eric Dolphy,
Babytalk,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Last Poets,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Eddi Front,
London Community Gospel Choir,
K-Klass,
Shuggie Otis,
Gang Starr,
Aural Exciters,
Public Image Ltd.,
Radiohead,
Glambeats Corp.,
Aswad,
Grauzone,
Fatback Band,
The Barracudas,
The Associates,
Newcleus,
Hoover,
Visage,
Severed Heads,
Brick,
Can,
Jacob Miller,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Urselle,
Davy DMX,
Boogie Down Productions,
Drexciya,
Lou Christie,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Malaria!,
Blossom Toes,
Wolf Eyes,
Fela Kuti,
Alice Coltrane,
Harpers Bizarre,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Oneida,
Banda Bassotti,
Dorothy Ashby,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
June Days,
Q65,
Traffic Nightmare,
The Golliwogs,
The Gories,
Matthew Halsall,
Carl Craig,
Mandrill,
Flash Fearless,
Gerry Rafferty,
Stereo Dub,
Das Ding,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Neil Young & Crazy Horse.
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.