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 Equatorial Guinea and from Seoul.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Quadrant to the grime kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Scion. All the underground hits.
All Charles Mingus tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ken Boothe 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 synthesizer and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Howard Jones record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
David Axelrod,
Bush Tetras,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Youth Brigade,
The Martian,
Inner City,
The Happenings,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Television Personalities,
Graham Central Station,
June Days,
Donald Byrd,
Altered Images,
Ice-T,
Thee Headcoats,
Sex Pistols,
Bluetip,
Suburban Knight,
Johnny Clarke,
Talk Talk,
Brick,
Deadbeat,
Yazoo,
Derrick May,
Gabor Szabo,
Henry Cow,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Schoolly D,
Boredoms,
Maleditus Sound,
Jimmy McGriff,
Albert Ayler,
Guru Guru,
Ornette Coleman,
Matthew Bourne,
Infiniti,
The Busters,
Q and Not U,
Pussy Galore,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Icehouse,
Monks,
Lalann,
Soul Sonic Force,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Eddi Front,
Symarip,
Neu!,
Big Daddy Kane,
the Association,
10cc,
Eric B and Rakim,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Rosa Yemen,
Nas,
Bobby Sherman,
FM Einheit,
Lyres,
Yusef Lateef,
Gregory Isaacs, Gregory Isaacs, Gregory Isaacs, Gregory Isaacs.
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.