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 Equatorial Guinea and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1968 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 güiro 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 Al Stewart to the jazz 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 Au Pairs. All the underground hits.
All Schoolly D tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eli Mardock record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ash Ra Tempel record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
a-ha,
Accadde A,
Joensuu 1685,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Peter and Kerry,
MC5,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Fad Gadget,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Adolescents,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Black Moon,
The Five Americans,
Graham Central Station,
The Martian,
Nik Kershaw,
Byron Stingily,
Animal Collective,
Von Mondo,
Radiohead,
Tropical Tobacco,
The Happenings,
Yusef Lateef,
X-102,
Sight & Sound,
Danielle Patucci,
Stereo Dub,
Television Personalities,
David Axelrod,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Doobie Brothers,
Rosa Yemen,
Yaz,
Scan 7,
K-Klass,
Cal Tjader,
New York Dolls,
Lakeside,
The Birthday Party,
The Leaves,
The Selecter,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Neon Judgement,
ABBA,
The Smoke,
The Move,
Blancmange,
Tomorrow,
Sonny Sharrock,
Scott Walker,
Glenn Branca,
In Retrospect,
Sugar Minott,
Todd Terry,
Rotary Connection,
Flamin' Groovies,
the Slits,
Lalann,
Public Image Ltd.,
8 Eyed Spy,
Thee Headcoats, Thee Headcoats, Thee Headcoats, Thee Headcoats.
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.