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 Palau and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1973.
I was there at the first Television 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 1965 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Philadelphia.
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 Donald Fagen 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 kango's stein massive to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Bob Dylan. All the underground hits.
All Man Parrish tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Charles Mingus 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gang of Four record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ronan,
Peter & Gordon,
R.M.O.,
Banda Bassotti,
PIL,
Curtis Mayfield,
Radiopuhelimet,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Doobie Brothers,
Joyce Sims,
Gregory Isaacs,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Rhythm & Sound,
Mad Mike,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Basic Channel,
Animal Collective,
Oneida,
Mary Jane Girls,
Soul Sonic Force,
Glambeats Corp.,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Bobby Byrd,
The Durutti Column,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Lou Christie,
The Skatalites,
Eve St. Jones,
Country Teasers,
the Fania All-Stars,
T. Rex,
The Smiths,
Agent Orange,
Skriet,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Glenn Branca,
Tomorrow,
Sex Pistols,
Robert Görl,
These Immortal Souls,
Wally Richardson,
Cheater Slicks,
Boz Scaggs,
Popol Vuh,
John Lydon,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Litter,
Minutemen,
Smog,
Marcia Griffiths,
Robert Hood,
Avey Tare,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Ultravox,
Delta 5,
Hardrive,
Barbara Tucker,
Bad Manners,
The Kinks,
Mark Hollis,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Jacques Brel, Jacques Brel, Jacques Brel, Jacques Brel.
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.