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 Belarus and from London.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1964 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia 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 arpeggiator 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 Terrestrial Tones to the grime 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 Nas. All the underground hits.
All Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Althea and Donna record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 mellotron and a marimba 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 808 and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Barracudas,
Alton Ellis,
10cc,
Reagan Youth,
China Crisis,
Erykah Badu,
Josef K,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Yellowson,
Marine Girls,
David Axelrod,
The American Breed,
ABBA,
X-Ray Spex,
Matthew Halsall,
Newcleus,
Blake Baxter,
Pylon,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
David McCallum,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Aural Exciters,
The Wake,
Don Cherry,
Toni Rubio,
Terrestrial Tones,
Liliput,
Lou Reed,
Chris & Cosey,
Flipper,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
EPMD,
Wire,
Mad Mike,
The Cowsills,
Technova,
Basic Channel,
Funkadelic,
Connie Case,
The Red Krayola,
Siglo XX,
Leonard Cohen,
The Cramps,
Suicide,
Fela Kuti,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Masters at Work,
The United States of America,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Minnie Riperton,
The Residents,
Ice-T,
Fluxion,
New Order,
The Walker Brothers,
The Victims,
Tim Buckley,
Organ,
Soft Machine,
The Human League,
Livin' Joy,
Jeru the Damaja, Jeru the Damaja, Jeru the Damaja, Jeru the Damaja.
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.