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 Vietnam and from Winnipeg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1962 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Donny Hathaway 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 Delta 5. All the underground hits.
All Nirvana tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Zeros 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Surgeon record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Roxy Music,
Unrelated Segments,
Pussy Galore,
Sarah Menescal,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Gong,
Neu!,
Drexciya,
The Mojo Men,
Marvin Gaye,
The Five Americans,
Alison Limerick,
Peter & Gordon,
JFA,
Scan 7,
The Motions,
Morten Harket,
Crime,
Reuben Wilson,
Camouflage,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Main Source,
Eve St. Jones,
Kayak,
The Dead C,
Matthew Halsall,
Robert Hood,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Ronnie Foster,
Absolute Body Control,
Banda Bassotti,
Kevin Saunderson,
Wire,
Joy Division,
The Buckinghams,
Kurtis Blow,
Hasil Adkins,
Bauhaus,
Bluetip,
The Gladiators,
Jeff Mills,
Depeche Mode,
Fad Gadget,
Ohio Players,
Cybotron,
Ronan,
Isaac Hayes,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Howard Jones,
Excepter,
David Bowie,
Bill Wells,
The Sonics,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Music Machine,
Eric Dolphy,
Sight & Sound,
Leonard Cohen,
Fatback Band,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Stooges,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Bill Near, Bill Near, Bill Near, Bill Near.
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.