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 Albania and from Bremen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Lindisfarne to the punk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 The Slits. All the underground hits.
All Kurtis Blow tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Electric Prunes 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Blackbyrds record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Leaves,
Donny Hathaway,
Fad Gadget,
Amon Düül II,
Marine Girls,
The Selecter,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Wolf Eyes,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Janne Schatter,
Joy Division,
Jimmy McGriff,
Bronski Beat,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Saccharine Trust,
Neil Young,
Todd Terry,
Fatback Band,
Con Funk Shun,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Brick,
June of 44,
Tears for Fears,
Arab on Radar,
The Misunderstood,
Minny Pops,
The Dirtbombs,
Schoolly D,
MDC,
Hardrive,
The Count Five,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Letta Mbulu,
DNA,
Alice Coltrane,
Average White Band,
Model 500,
Slave,
Lou Reed,
Organ,
Suburban Knight,
The Detroit Cobras,
Davy DMX,
Infiniti,
Glambeats Corp.,
Freddie Wadling,
Half Japanese,
The Pop Group,
The Electric Prunes,
Scott Walker,
Deepchord,
Sällskapet,
Ultravox,
The Divine Comedy,
Ken Boothe,
Bootsy Collins,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Cybotron,
Mary Jane Girls,
The Cure, The Cure, The Cure, The Cure.
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.