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 Benin and from Tokyo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1961 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Brand Nubian to the funk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Real Kids. All the underground hits.
All Niagra tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Trumans Water record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Black Bananas record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bobby Sherman,
Johnny Osbourne,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Monolake,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Howard Jones,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Cybotron,
Laurel Aitken,
Joy Division,
Sound Behaviour,
The Divine Comedy,
Black Pus,
The Star Department,
Wolf Eyes,
Quadrant,
Youth Brigade,
Hardrive,
The Happenings,
Metal Thangz,
The Doors,
Malaria!,
Marine Girls,
Bauhaus,
Eve St. Jones,
the Slits,
Zero Boys,
Peter and Kerry,
The Shadows of Knight,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
The Index,
Unrelated Segments,
Byron Stingily,
Stereo Dub,
Jeff Lynne,
PIL,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
The American Breed,
The Knickerbockers,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Procol Harum,
The Walker Brothers,
The Dave Clark Five,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Saccharine Trust,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Echospace,
Eric Dolphy,
Peter & Gordon,
Reagan Youth,
Pagans,
Anthony Braxton,
Little Man,
Kevin Saunderson,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Invisible,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Masters at Work,
Glambeats Corp.,
Gregory Isaacs,
Silicon Teens,
Gichy Dan,
Man Parrish, Man Parrish, Man Parrish, Man Parrish.
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.