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 Pakistan and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1976 at the first Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 This Heat to the disco kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 T.S.O.L.. All the underground hits.
All Alison Limerick tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Darondo record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mad Mike record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bobby Hutcherson,
John Lydon,
Saccharine Trust,
Rekid,
Amazonics,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Lakeside,
Ronan,
In Retrospect,
Soul Sonic Force,
Amon Düül,
The Monks,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Offenders,
The Smiths,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Ken Boothe,
Marvin Gaye,
Rosa Yemen,
The Modern Lovers,
DJ Sneak,
Aural Exciters,
Funky Four + One,
Negative Approach,
JFA,
Average White Band,
Glenn Branca,
Crispy Ambulance,
Carl Craig,
Sun Ra,
The Pretty Things,
Public Enemy,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Ice-T,
Sandy B,
Idris Muhammad,
Royal Trux,
Barclay James Harvest,
Electric Prunes,
Minor Threat,
The Tremeloes,
Monolake,
Bootsy Collins,
The Remains,
Wire,
Grey Daturas,
Spandau Ballet,
Mo-Dettes,
Boredoms,
The Fall,
EPMD,
John Holt,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Yusef Lateef,
ABC,
Pantaleimon,
Mars,
The Star Department,
The Gories,
One Last Wish,
Soulsonic Force,
Dennis Brown, Dennis Brown, Dennis Brown, Dennis Brown.
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.