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 Zambia and from Bologna.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1966 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 organ 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 Delon & Dalcan to the punk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Henry Cow. All the underground hits.
All Peter & Gordon tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lucky Dragons 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gang Green record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Standells,
Siglo XX,
Qualms,
Second Layer,
A Flock of Seagulls,
The Busters,
Brass Construction,
Cymande,
Yusef Lateef,
Fear,
Bobby Sherman,
Schoolly D,
Shuggie Otis,
Piero Umiliani,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Pharoah Sanders,
Tears for Fears,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Alton Ellis,
These Immortal Souls,
Gregory Isaacs,
Franke,
Wolf Eyes,
Big Daddy Kane,
Deadbeat,
New York Dolls,
Minutemen,
Donald Byrd,
Radio Birdman,
Crooked Eye,
Mad Mike,
Joyce Sims,
The Fugs,
Wire,
The Mummies,
Royal Trux,
The Skatalites,
Eric B and Rakim,
Duran Duran,
Faust,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Agitation Free,
Nas,
The Names,
Stereo Dub,
Susan Cadogan,
Minny Pops,
Bush Tetras,
the Germs,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
X-102,
The Raincoats,
In Retrospect,
The Golliwogs,
Sexual Harrassment,
The Walker Brothers,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Connie Case,
Oblivians,
The Invisible,
Rufus Thomas,
The Pretty Things, The Pretty Things, The Pretty Things, The Pretty Things.
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.