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 Ukraine and from Manila.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1966 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 linndrum 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 Oneida to the dance kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Kerri Chandler. All the underground hits.
All The Associates tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every DNA record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 sitar and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Cal Tjader record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bluetip,
Josef K,
Alice Coltrane,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Trojans,
Andrew Hill,
Sandy B,
Depeche Mode,
Flamin' Groovies,
Cecil Taylor,
Sarah Menescal,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Franke,
K-Klass,
Flipper,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Porter Ricks,
Infiniti,
Tropical Tobacco,
Bill Wells,
Minutemen,
Eric Copeland,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Gregory Isaacs,
Soul II Soul,
the Germs,
Sexual Harrassment,
The Monochrome Set,
Jimmy McGriff,
The Offenders,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Scion,
the Fania All-Stars,
Model 500,
Stiv Bators,
Gichy Dan,
Soul Sonic Force,
L. Decosne,
The Blues Magoos,
EPMD,
MDC,
LL Cool J,
Icehouse,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Lower 48,
The Moody Blues,
Panda Bear,
Henry Cow,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Lakeside,
Crash Course in Science,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Scratch Acid,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Reagan Youth,
The Names,
Eden Ahbez,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Babytalk, Babytalk, Babytalk, Babytalk.
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.