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 Gambia and from Edmonton.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1966 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Copenhagen.
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 1978 at the first Visage practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the theremin 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 West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band to the grunge kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Crime. All the underground hits.
All a-ha tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every U.S. Maple record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 güiro and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Raincoats record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Erykah Badu,
AZ,
World's Most,
Urselle,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Lee Hazlewood,
DJ Style,
Crispy Ambulance,
Minnie Riperton,
UT,
The Tremeloes,
cv313,
Fugazi,
X-101,
Arcadia,
The Doors,
Wally Richardson,
Albert Ayler,
Scrapy,
Johnny Clarke,
Little Man,
Lou Christie,
Outsiders,
Swell Maps,
The Fugs,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Brand Nubian,
The Red Krayola,
Iggy Pop,
Monolake,
Oneida,
The Music Machine,
Stockholm Monsters,
Thee Headcoats,
Flamin' Groovies,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Sugar Minott,
Slick Rick,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Cameo,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Wings,
the Sonics,
Deepchord,
Judy Mowatt,
Gang Starr,
The Saints,
Joe Finger,
Girls At Our Best!,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Depeche Mode,
Henry Cow,
the Human League,
The Offenders,
Aural Exciters,
Desert Stars,
Soul II Soul,
Ice-T,
MC5,
Blancmange,
Zapp,
Letta Mbulu,
Television, Television, Television, Television.
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.