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 Chad and from Manila.
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 1966 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 snare 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 Terrestrial Tones to the grunge 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 Eyeless In Gaza. All the underground hits.
All The Fortunes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Pop Group 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Outsiders record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Prince Buster,
Icehouse,
Underground Resistance,
Letta Mbulu,
Surgeon,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Pylon,
Dave Gahan,
The Last Poets,
Altered Images,
Marine Girls,
Gil Scott Heron,
Technova,
Big Daddy Kane,
Groovy Waters,
Gichy Dan,
D'Angelo,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Carl Craig,
Connie Case,
Tropical Tobacco,
The Dave Clark Five,
Dennis Brown,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Johnny Clarke,
Derrick Morgan,
Negative Approach,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Ice-T,
LL Cool J,
OOIOO,
Sarah Menescal,
Soft Cell,
Lungfish,
Banda Bassotti,
Gregory Isaacs,
Rosa Yemen,
Agent Orange,
Ultra Naté,
Second Layer,
Hasil Adkins,
Derrick May,
Sam Rivers,
Slave,
Q65,
Stetsasonic,
Faust,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Slits,
Outsiders,
The Litter,
Fad Gadget,
Dawn Penn,
Tubeway Army,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Easy Going,
Ohio Players,
Kaleidoscope,
Colin Newman,
E-Dancer, E-Dancer, E-Dancer, E-Dancer.
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.