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 Djibouti and from Mexico City.
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 1966 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 Tom Verlaine 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 Richard Hell and the Voidoids to the dance kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Dirtbombs. All the underground hits.
All Yusef Lateef tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jimmy McGriff 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Grey Daturas record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Man Parrish,
Yazoo,
Essential Logic,
Pharoah Sanders,
LL Cool J,
Minutemen,
Cheater Slicks,
Royal Trux,
Massinfluence,
The Flesh Eaters,
DNA,
The Red Krayola,
Oneida,
Mission of Burma,
Mary Jane Girls,
Pet Shop Boys,
Subhumans,
Accadde A,
Spoonie Gee,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Smiths,
Crispian St. Peters,
Rakim,
Model 500,
Babytalk,
Jeru the Damaja,
Country Teasers,
Crispy Ambulance,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
The Five Americans,
Jesper Dahlback,
Whodini,
Joe Finger,
Black Bananas,
Arthur Verocai,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Underground Resistance,
Adolescents,
Youth Brigade,
Tom Boy,
The Electric Prunes,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Neon Judgement,
Ultra Naté,
James White and The Blacks,
DJ Sneak,
The Moody Blues,
Faraquet,
The Evens,
X-Ray Spex,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Offenders,
Zero Boys,
Soul Sonic Force,
Soulsonic Force,
Audionom,
Fort Wilson Riot,
The Mummies,
Nik Kershaw,
Blossom Toes,
Shuggie Otis, Shuggie Otis, Shuggie Otis, Shuggie Otis.
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.