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 Somalia and from Copenhagen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Chic show in New York.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 synthesizer 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 Country Teasers to the funk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Roy Ayers. All the underground hits.
All Marmalade tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nirvana record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Reuben Wilson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Zero Boys,
Chris & Cosey,
Severed Heads,
E-Dancer,
Cymande,
Masters at Work,
Popol Vuh,
Cameo,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Zapp,
Jacques Brel,
Hot Snakes,
The Human League,
Kerrie Biddell,
Patti Smith,
The Monks,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Moody Blues,
Gong,
Kerri Chandler,
Hashim,
The Durutti Column,
Skarface,
Sister Nancy,
Yazoo,
Andrew Hill,
Moby Grape,
The Slackers,
The Last Poets,
Ultimate Spinach,
The Dead C,
The Fire Engines,
Tubeway Army,
Average White Band,
The Tremeloes,
Alice Coltrane,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Tropical Tobacco,
Terry Callier,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Freddie Wadling,
Marshall Jefferson,
The Mighty Diamonds,
JFA,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Junior Murvin,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Agent Orange,
The Cure,
Monolake,
Lakeside,
Minnie Riperton,
Don Cherry,
T.S.O.L.,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Tom Boy,
Lightning Bolt,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Liliput,
Von Mondo, Von Mondo, Von Mondo, Von Mondo.
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.