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 Estonia and from Shanghai.
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 1965 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Johannesburg.
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 arpeggiator 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 De La Soul & Jungle Brothers to the disco kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Neil Young. All the underground hits.
All The Skatalites tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Todd Terry record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gang Green,
Blake Baxter,
Infiniti,
The Alarm Clocks,
Youth Brigade,
Max Romeo,
Thompson Twins,
Pulsallama,
Jawbox,
The Sound,
Absolute Body Control,
Leonard Cohen,
Avey Tare,
Faraquet,
F. McDonald,
June of 44,
Trumans Water,
Terrestrial Tones,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Jacques Brel,
Harpers Bizarre,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Nas,
Sixth Finger,
Underground Resistance,
Royal Trux,
The Tremeloes,
The Toasters,
The Moody Blues,
Eddi Front,
Deadbeat,
Stereo Dub,
Jeff Lynne,
David McCallum,
Depeche Mode,
Danielle Patucci,
Q and Not U,
Suicide,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
These Immortal Souls,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Sugar Minott,
Girls At Our Best!,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Ituana,
Alton Ellis,
Ice-T,
Pole,
Todd Terry,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Joe Finger,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Crispian St. Peters,
Bauhaus,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Essential Logic,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Second Layer,
Spandau Ballet,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Alphaville, Alphaville, Alphaville, Alphaville.
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.