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 Zimbabwe and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1965 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 oboe 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 The J.B.'s to the funk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Lungfish. All the underground hits.
All The Gories tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Excepter 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 a chamberlin and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Letta Mbulu 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?
Banda Bassotti,
Joe Finger,
Eric Dolphy,
Khruangbin,
Aural Exciters,
The Divine Comedy,
The Misunderstood,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Metal Thangz,
Sexual Harrassment,
Patti Smith,
The United States of America,
Babytalk,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Flash Fearless,
UT,
Arcadia,
Sex Pistols,
The Music Machine,
The Shadows of Knight,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Flamin' Groovies,
Pierre Henry,
Isaac Hayes,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Hardrive,
June Days,
Kool Moe Dee,
The Stooges,
The Residents,
Livin' Joy,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Lalo Schifrin,
Lalann,
The Litter,
The Sonics,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Dawn Penn,
Fela Kuti,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Peter & Gordon,
The Alarm Clocks,
Pharoah Sanders,
Curtis Mayfield,
Hoover,
These Immortal Souls,
Pagans,
Todd Terry,
Tres Demented,
Excepter,
Erykah Badu,
Terry Callier,
Young Marble Giants,
The Last Poets,
The Flesh Eaters,
DNA,
Chris & Cosey,
Jeff Mills,
The Count Five,
The J.B.'s,
Eli Mardock, Eli Mardock, Eli Mardock, Eli Mardock.
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.