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 South Sudan and from Johannesburg.
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 1969 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 David Axelrod to the techno 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 Neil Young. All the underground hits.
All Roy Ayers Ubiquity tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rahsaan Roland Kirk 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gil Scott Heron 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?
The Gun Club,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Marine Girls,
John Lydon,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
OOIOO,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Ralphi Rosario,
The Gladiators,
Magazine,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Popol Vuh,
Josef K,
Fad Gadget,
Marmalade,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Mandrill,
Skriet,
The Trojans,
The Cramps,
JFA,
Roxette,
Wasted Youth,
Minor Threat,
The Martian,
Q and Not U,
Public Image Ltd.,
Freddie Wadling,
Jandek,
Ultravox,
Pet Shop Boys,
Ludus,
Joey Negro,
This Heat,
B.T. Express,
Mo-Dettes,
The Smoke,
The Motions,
Mantronix,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Leaves,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Alton Ellis,
Metal Thangz,
Parry Music,
Radio Birdman,
Joe Finger,
The Techniques,
Minutemen,
The Selecter,
New York Dolls,
Cecil Taylor,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Monks,
Young Marble Giants,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Sound Behaviour,
Thee Headcoats,
T. Rex,
Tubeway Army,
Archie Shepp,
Eurythmics,
Sonny Sharrock, Sonny Sharrock, Sonny Sharrock, Sonny Sharrock.
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.