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 Slovakia and from London.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1963 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 spring reverb 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 FM Einheit to the punk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Black Sheep. All the underground hits.
All Lakeside tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Althea and Donna record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Roy Ayers Ubiquity record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar 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 Moleskins,
Pagans,
The Music Machine,
Alphaville,
Jandek,
John Holt,
Traffic Nightmare,
The Slackers,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Urselle,
Todd Terry,
In Retrospect,
Second Layer,
Pussy Galore,
The Grass Roots,
the Slits,
The Dave Clark Five,
Hashim,
Angry Samoans,
Kaleidoscope,
Organ,
Lou Reed,
Soulsonic Force,
Lyres,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
The Cramps,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Blackbyrds,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Pierre Henry,
Porter Ricks,
Swans,
Skarface,
Tubeway Army,
Derrick May,
R.M.O.,
Magazine,
Joey Negro,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Television Personalities,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Barry Ungar,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Johnny Osbourne,
Altered Images,
The Wake,
Eric Copeland,
Brand Nubian,
Man Parrish,
Arthur Verocai,
Stetsasonic,
K-Klass,
Inner City,
Terrestrial Tones,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The Leaves,
Pharoah Sanders,
Matthew Halsall,
Popol Vuh,
Eurythmics, Eurythmics, Eurythmics, Eurythmics.
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.