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 Vanuatu and from Mumbai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Bootsy Collins to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Glenn Branca. All the underground hits.
All Metal Thangz tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ultramagnetic MC's 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 an organ and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Dennis Brown record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kayak,
The Offenders,
The Fugs,
Sonny Sharrock,
Black Sheep,
Public Enemy,
Black Bananas,
Yusef Lateef,
The Dirtbombs,
Trumans Water,
London Community Gospel Choir,
ABC,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Barbara Tucker,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Bobby Sherman,
Yaz,
Basic Channel,
Ludus,
the Soft Cell,
Jacques Brel,
A Certain Ratio,
Minutemen,
The Gap Band,
Rhythm & Sound,
the Germs,
Barry Ungar,
Excepter,
Buzzcocks,
Pole,
B.T. Express,
T. Rex,
Television,
The Mummies,
The Names,
The Blues Magoos,
Smog,
Eurythmics,
Archie Shepp,
Mandrill,
Kaleidoscope,
Sam Rivers,
Dual Sessions,
Boredoms,
Angry Samoans,
David Bowie,
Porter Ricks,
Man Parrish,
Rites of Spring,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Eve St. Jones,
Althea and Donna,
Rotary Connection,
Rufus Thomas,
Ken Boothe,
The Blackbyrds,
Inner City,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Talk Talk,
Nico,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The Gladiators, The Gladiators, The Gladiators, The Gladiators.
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.