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 Romania and from Lille.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1967 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Seoul.
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 Robert Palmer 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 Sonny Sharrock to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Scott Walker. All the underground hits.
All Skarface tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Black Bananas record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Cymande record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sex Pistols,
This Heat,
The Stooges,
Urselle,
Excepter,
Roy Ayers,
The Durutti Column,
Eyeless In Gaza,
The Smoke,
Kevin Saunderson,
The Monks,
Bronski Beat,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Jacques Brel,
Cluster,
Laurel Aitken,
Reagan Youth,
Camouflage,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
the Germs,
the Normal,
Todd Rundgren,
Ohio Players,
Joyce Sims,
Kool Moe Dee,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Unwound,
Model 500,
Skarface,
Guru Guru,
Deadbeat,
Little Man,
Gerry Rafferty,
Stiv Bators,
Ralphi Rosario,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Nik Kershaw,
Minnie Riperton,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Bad Manners,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
The Martian,
Tres Demented,
Peter & Gordon,
8 Eyed Spy,
Agitation Free,
Donny Hathaway,
The Names,
Harpers Bizarre,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Nation of Ulysses,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
The Birthday Party,
Rites of Spring,
Scrapy,
Fatback Band,
Marine Girls,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Soft Cell,
Derrick Morgan, Derrick Morgan, Derrick Morgan, Derrick Morgan.
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.