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 Egypt and from Manchester.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 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 The Evens to the techno kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Camouflage. All the underground hits.
All Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Selecter record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Harmonia record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Index,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Fela Kuti,
Godley & Creme,
Wolf Eyes,
Minor Threat,
LL Cool J,
Neu!,
Avey Tare,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
X-101,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Soul II Soul,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Roger Hodgson,
Amon Düül II,
The Knickerbockers,
Kenny Larkin,
Eddi Front,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Cymande,
Nas,
The Barracudas,
the Human League,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Smoke,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
The Skatalites,
Duran Duran,
Leonard Cohen,
Blake Baxter,
Delta 5,
Au Pairs,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Arab on Radar,
Donny Hathaway,
The Velvet Underground,
Banda Bassotti,
The United States of America,
Metal Thangz,
Jeff Mills,
The Searchers,
Cecil Taylor,
Organ,
Josef K,
The Gladiators,
Marine Girls,
D'Angelo,
Monolake,
Anthony Braxton,
Sonic Youth,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Magma,
E-Dancer,
Pulsallama,
The Gap Band,
the Slits,
Peter and Kerry, Peter and Kerry, Peter and Kerry, Peter and Kerry.
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.