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 Mauritania and from Sao Paulo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Wire show in Watford.
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 1962 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Lou Christie to the disco kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Bootsy's Rubber Band. All the underground hits.
All Funky Four + One tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Techniques record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Roy Ayers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator 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 Detroit Cobras,
Kerrie Biddell,
Idris Muhammad,
Big Daddy Kane,
Massinfluence,
Donny Hathaway,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Lee Hazlewood,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Last Poets,
Television Personalities,
Fad Gadget,
AZ,
The Mojo Men,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Gang Gang Dance,
the Human League,
Grauzone,
Faraquet,
Lucky Dragons,
The Remains,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Slackers,
Patti Smith,
Tommy Roe,
Alison Limerick,
Von Mondo,
The Dave Clark Five,
Animal Collective,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Sam Rivers,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
The Martian,
Bobby Byrd,
The J.B.'s,
F. McDonald,
Dark Day,
Altered Images,
Zapp,
Slick Rick,
Procol Harum,
Infiniti,
Matthew Halsall,
Reagan Youth,
Ornette Coleman,
Can,
The Star Department,
The Victims,
The Fugs,
Delta 5,
The Black Dice,
David McCallum,
Roxette,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Skaos,
The Seeds,
The Kinks,
Ten City,
The Searchers, The Searchers, The Searchers, The Searchers.
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.