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 St Kitts & Nevis and from Edmonton.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1969 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Faraquet to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog. All the underground hits.
All Magazine tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ajijia Myrayebe record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 synthesizer and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Grass Roots record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Mo-Dettes,
Easy Going,
Soul Sonic Force,
Gastr Del Sol,
Isaac Hayes,
Kerrie Biddell,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Funky Four + One,
Banda Bassotti,
Hoover,
The Sound,
Kurtis Blow,
Youth Brigade,
The Blackbyrds,
Malaria!,
Khruangbin,
Pantytec,
A Certain Ratio,
Nik Kershaw,
Pierre Henry,
The Cowsills,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Goldenarms,
The Standells,
These Immortal Souls,
The Barracudas,
Angry Samoans,
Pole,
The Techniques,
Derrick Morgan,
Fat Boys,
Second Layer,
The Doors,
The Fire Engines,
Neil Young,
Nas,
Fugazi,
Quantec,
DJ Style,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Q and Not U,
The Fall,
ABC,
Fad Gadget,
Barclay James Harvest,
Anakelly,
OOIOO,
The Saints,
The Offenders,
Franke,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Terry Callier,
The Evens,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Skarface,
Sonic Youth,
The Divine Comedy,
Blossom Toes,
Lucky Dragons,
The Searchers, The Searchers, The Searchers, The Searchers.
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.