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 Guyana and from Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Chic show in New York.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Reuben Wilson to the techno kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Drexciya. All the underground hits.
All Kenny Larkin tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Dirtbombs record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Manfred Mann's Earth Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Grass Roots,
Ultra Naté,
This Heat,
Donny Hathaway,
Lyres,
Toni Rubio,
Eurythmics,
The Evens,
Essential Logic,
Anthony Braxton,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Flipper,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Hoover,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Divine Comedy,
Boogie Down Productions,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Sonny Sharrock,
Frankie Knuckles,
The Vogues,
Henry Cow,
Brass Construction,
The Five Americans,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Nirvana,
Pole,
The Searchers,
Moby Grape,
Sparks,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Slick Rick,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Fortunes,
Roxy Music,
Tubeway Army,
Kool Moe Dee,
cv313,
Easy Going,
New Order,
Connie Case,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Dual Sessions,
Funky Four + One,
One Last Wish,
Liliput,
Outsiders,
The Cramps,
Make Up,
Sarah Menescal,
David Bowie,
Radio Birdman,
ABC,
Eden Ahbez,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
The Stooges,
Bobby Womack,
Infiniti,
The Skatalites,
Shuggie Otis,
Can,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Grey Daturas, Grey Daturas, Grey Daturas, Grey Daturas.
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.