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 St Lucia and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1980.
I was there at the first Cybotron show in Detroit.
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 1968 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Hashim to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Girls At Our Best!. All the underground hits.
All The Chocolate Watch Band tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Happenings record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ornette Coleman record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Minnie Riperton,
Interpol,
Bobby Byrd,
Crooked Eye,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Fortunes,
Masters at Work,
Lucky Dragons,
Qualms,
New Age Steppers,
Shoche,
Pet Shop Boys,
Ludus,
The Golliwogs,
Brass Construction,
Marshall Jefferson,
John Holt,
Ronan,
Yaz,
Fugazi,
Quadrant,
Lou Christie,
The Smiths,
D'Angelo,
Brick,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Dave Gahan,
Harmonia,
Japan,
Derrick Morgan,
Bootsy Collins,
Al Stewart,
Q65,
Gastr Del Sol,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
The Gladiators,
Kool Moe Dee,
Peter & Gordon,
Hot Snakes,
Darondo,
Metal Thangz,
Byron Stingily,
Magma,
Rapeman,
The Grass Roots,
Jacques Brel,
Idris Muhammad,
Sällskapet,
Tres Demented,
Minor Threat,
Aswad,
Deakin,
The Cramps,
The Wake,
Kevin Saunderson,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
CMW,
Echospace,
The J.B.'s,
Nik Kershaw,
Livin' Joy,
Matthew Bourne,
Liliput,
Todd Terry, Todd Terry, Todd Terry, Todd Terry.
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.