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 Malawi and from Tehran.
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 1966 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 Holger Czukay 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 Nas to the rock 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 Von Mondo. All the underground hits.
All Girls At Our Best! tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lower 48 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Robert Hood record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Index,
Robert Görl,
Joey Negro,
Godley & Creme,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
The Buckinghams,
DJ Sneak,
Judy Mowatt,
Gang of Four,
Pulsallama,
Donald Byrd,
Arthur Verocai,
Crooked Eye,
Eve St. Jones,
Bad Manners,
Loose Ends,
The Doors,
Mark Hollis,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Modern Lovers,
the Human League,
Laurel Aitken,
Eli Mardock,
The Busters,
Unrelated Segments,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Joyce Sims,
Gong,
Section 25,
Massinfluence,
Brass Construction,
Max Romeo,
Flash Fearless,
Eric Dolphy,
Gang Starr,
Bobby Sherman,
Maleditus Sound,
the Sonics,
Jeff Lynne,
Bang On A Can,
Stereo Dub,
The Names,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Buzzcocks,
Lalann,
New Age Steppers,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
New York Dolls,
Sly & The Family Stone,
DNA,
Infiniti,
Sight & Sound,
Oblivians,
Nik Kershaw,
The Wake,
The Invisible,
Newcleus,
The Cure,
JFA,
The Beau Brummels, The Beau Brummels, The Beau Brummels, The Beau Brummels.
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.