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 Latvia and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 Lille and Hong Kong.
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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Thee Headcoats to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 the Swans. All the underground hits.
All Jacob Miller tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Angry Samoans record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Last Poets record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
T. Rex,
The Toasters,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Con Funk Shun,
the Soft Cell,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Black Pus,
Fear,
OOIOO,
Lungfish,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
The Shadows of Knight,
Los Fastidios,
Radio Birdman,
Man Parrish,
Yazoo,
Tom Boy,
James White and The Blacks,
Mary Jane Girls,
John Coltrane,
Gastr Del Sol,
The Sonics,
Gabor Szabo,
The Real Kids,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Dennis Brown,
Eli Mardock,
Sonic Youth,
Ronnie Foster,
Angry Samoans,
Lalann,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
The Blackbyrds,
Fad Gadget,
The Motions,
The Busters,
Darondo,
The Fugs,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Connie Case,
Archie Shepp,
MDC,
Metal Thangz,
Jerry Gold Smith,
the Human League,
Pagans,
Marvin Gaye,
Eve St. Jones,
Neu!,
These Immortal Souls,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
8 Eyed Spy,
Faust,
The Trojans,
Dark Day,
Saccharine Trust,
The Monks,
Joensuu 1685,
the Fania All-Stars,
Panda Bear,
Scratch Acid,
Marcia Griffiths,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
The Vogues, The Vogues, The Vogues, The Vogues.
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.