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 Denmark and from Toronto.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South 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 1961 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Halifax 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience to the dance kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Heaven 17. All the underground hits.
All Delta 5 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Misunderstood record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Slick Rick record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Agent Orange,
Cybotron,
Gabor Szabo,
Neil Young,
X-Ray Spex,
Ten City,
The Modern Lovers,
the Association,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Half Japanese,
Arcadia,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Girls At Our Best!,
The Remains,
D'Angelo,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Saccharine Trust,
Excepter,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Music Machine,
Goldenarms,
Bluetip,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Iggy Pop,
Sex Pistols,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Barrington Levy,
Section 25,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Tim Buckley,
Public Image Ltd.,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Count Five,
Kerrie Biddell,
The Stooges,
Gerry Rafferty,
Leonard Cohen,
Supertramp,
Janne Schatter,
Lightning Bolt,
Television,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
The Gun Club,
Zero Boys,
Gang Gang Dance,
The American Breed,
Swell Maps,
Parry Music,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Beau Brummels,
The Misunderstood,
JFA,
The Vogues,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Deadbeat,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Yusef Lateef,
Bill Near,
Rites of Spring,
Patti Smith, Patti Smith, Patti Smith, Patti Smith.
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.