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 Angola and from Accra.
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 1968 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 Lou Reed 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 Dorothy Ashby to the punk 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 Tom Boy. All the underground hits.
All Junior Murvin tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Faraquet record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 theremin and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jeff Mills record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pylon,
Jimmy McGriff,
T.S.O.L.,
Donald Byrd,
The Electric Prunes,
Pole,
Mr. Review,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Evens,
Shuggie Otis,
Pantytec,
June Days,
Al Stewart,
Rufus Thomas,
Rod Modell,
Procol Harum,
Neu!,
Tommy Roe,
Rhythm & Sound,
the Human League,
Suicide,
Underground Resistance,
Jacques Brel,
Grey Daturas,
Lee Hazlewood,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Newcleus,
Schoolly D,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Electric Prunes,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Das Ding,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
JFA,
Moby Grape,
Sugar Minott,
The United States of America,
Quando Quango,
Bootsy Collins,
Cheater Slicks,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Section 25,
Pagans,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Eve St. Jones,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Offenders,
Ten City,
Radio Birdman,
Second Layer,
48th St. Collective,
Lakeside,
The Sisters of Mercy,
John Lydon,
Man Parrish,
U.S. Maple,
Au Pairs,
Bobby Womack,
Dual Sessions,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Reuben Wilson,
Mantronix,
These Immortal Souls, These Immortal Souls, These Immortal Souls, These Immortal Souls.
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.