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 Cape Verde and from Winnipeg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia show in 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 1968 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Ituana to the disco 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 Alice Coltrane. All the underground hits.
All The Remains tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Zeros record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 synthesizer and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Unrelated Segments record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Television,
the Normal,
PIL,
The Mojo Men,
Tropical Tobacco,
Bootsy Collins,
Negative Approach,
Q and Not U,
Gang Starr,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Darondo,
The Buckinghams,
Boz Scaggs,
Kaleidoscope,
Suburban Knight,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The Barracudas,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Mummies,
Amon Düül,
F. McDonald,
Joyce Sims,
Pagans,
LL Cool J,
Jimmy McGriff,
Terry Callier,
Lucky Dragons,
Alice Coltrane,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Nik Kershaw,
Agitation Free,
New Order,
Con Funk Shun,
Neil Young,
Black Pus,
Radiohead,
Mo-Dettes,
The Human League,
June Days,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Lebanon Hanover,
Mission of Burma,
Blossom Toes,
The Five Americans,
Basic Channel,
Robert Hood,
Quando Quango,
Fatback Band,
Danielle Patucci,
Chris & Cosey,
Rufus Thomas,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Soft Cell,
The Grass Roots,
Echospace,
Sällskapet,
Yusef Lateef,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Schoolly D,
The Residents,
La Düsseldorf, La Düsseldorf, La Düsseldorf, La Düsseldorf.
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.