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 Tuvalu and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1967 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 arpeggiator 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 Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam to the rock kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Thompson Twins. All the underground hits.
All Supertramp tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Echospace record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 sitar and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Iggy Pop record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Masters at Work,
Lightning Bolt,
Albert Ayler,
Zero Boys,
Ultimate Spinach,
Junior Murvin,
Kenny Larkin,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Erasure,
The Knickerbockers,
The Human League,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Sun Ra,
Minnie Riperton,
Pierre Henry,
One Last Wish,
Half Japanese,
Magazine,
Dead Boys,
Gastr Del Sol,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Nick Fraelich,
CMW,
Flash Fearless,
Monolake,
Jesper Dahlback,
Idris Muhammad,
Prince Buster,
The Zeros,
Robert Görl,
Joe Finger,
Terry Callier,
Basic Channel,
Iggy Pop,
Bob Dylan,
Minny Pops,
The Pop Group,
Kerrie Biddell,
Fluxion,
Sun City Girls,
Metal Thangz,
Barbara Tucker,
MDC,
Johnny Osbourne,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Shadows of Knight,
Spandau Ballet,
DNA,
Erykah Badu,
Frankie Knuckles,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
The Victims,
Silicon Teens,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Slick Rick,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Camouflage,
Fear,
Steve Hackett,
Intrusion,
Lindisfarne, Lindisfarne, Lindisfarne, Lindisfarne.
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.