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 Mexico and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1967 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Nas to the disco kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Mark Hollis. All the underground hits.
All Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sly & The Family Stone record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Slackers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Whodini,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Moby Grape,
Laurel Aitken,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Black Pus,
Mars,
Sister Nancy,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Bronski Beat,
Kevin Saunderson,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
John Coltrane,
Visage,
Liliput,
The Cramps,
The Index,
MC5,
Make Up,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Flash Fearless,
Warsaw,
Deepchord,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Goldenarms,
Jacob Miller,
Ituana,
Joy Division,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Duran Duran,
Index,
Hasil Adkins,
Hashim,
Fela Kuti,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Amon Düül II,
The Happenings,
Das Ding,
The Kinks,
Scan 7,
Japan,
Rotary Connection,
Nick Fraelich,
Cheater Slicks,
Erasure,
Main Source,
Barrington Levy,
The Young Rascals,
The Vogues,
Nation of Ulysses,
the Fania All-Stars,
Gichy Dan,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Barbara Tucker,
Marc Almond,
The Golliwogs,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
The Durutti Column,
Ken Boothe,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Dorothy Ashby,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Kenny Larkin, Kenny Larkin, Kenny Larkin, Kenny Larkin.
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.