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 Tajikistan and from London.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Pharoah Sanders to the rap kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Mighty Diamonds. All the underground hits.
All Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Techniques 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Max Romeo record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
R.M.O.,
Ten City,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Evens,
Peter & Gordon,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Radiopuhelimet,
Lakeside,
Electric Light Orchestra,
China Crisis,
Con Funk Shun,
Motorama,
kango's stein massive,
Fela Kuti,
Soft Machine,
Danielle Patucci,
Matthew Halsall,
Barrington Levy,
Pere Ubu,
X-Ray Spex,
Liliput,
The Doobie Brothers,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Tommy Roe,
Scratch Acid,
Pagans,
Shoche,
June of 44,
Matthew Bourne,
The Selecter,
Cecil Taylor,
Fear,
Yellowson,
Glenn Branca,
Brand Nubian,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Japan,
Al Stewart,
The Grass Roots,
Rod Modell,
Fifty Foot Hose,
PIL,
The Stooges,
48th St. Collective,
Hardrive,
Lindisfarne,
Black Sheep,
Jimmy McGriff,
ABC,
Heaven 17,
Morten Harket,
Sex Pistols,
Skriet,
Nico,
Rakim,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Leonard Cohen,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Cluster,
Procol Harum,
Nick Fraelich,
T. Rex, T. Rex, T. Rex, T. Rex.
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.