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 Malawi and from Stockholm.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1968 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 Lou Reed 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 Nik Kershaw to the grime kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Audionom. All the underground hits.
All The Divine Comedy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Swell Maps 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Thompson Twins record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Magazine,
the Slits,
Johnny Clarke,
Aural Exciters,
Godley & Creme,
Basic Channel,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Clear Light,
Ornette Coleman,
Eyeless In Gaza,
The Durutti Column,
Faraquet,
The Barracudas,
Blake Baxter,
Inner City,
Cymande,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Rakim,
Roxy Music,
Parry Music,
Ronan,
Bobby Womack,
Hoover,
Kenny Larkin,
Ludus,
Nas,
Anakelly,
Boredoms,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Marvin Gaye,
Alphaville,
Grauzone,
Supertramp,
X-102,
The Dave Clark Five,
Pet Shop Boys,
The New Christs,
Bootsy Collins,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Eric B and Rakim,
Surgeon,
The Sonics,
Joensuu 1685,
Howard Jones,
Ken Boothe,
Severed Heads,
Joe Finger,
Cecil Taylor,
This Heat,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Girls At Our Best!,
The Monochrome Set,
Massinfluence,
Quantec,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
the Germs,
Camouflage,
Fat Boys,
New Age Steppers,
Interpol,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Ultimate Spinach,
Max Romeo,
Big Daddy Kane, Big Daddy Kane, Big Daddy Kane, Big Daddy Kane.
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.