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 Burkina and from London.
But I was there.
I was there in 1978.
I was there at the first Visage show in London.
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 1960 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi 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 snare 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 Second Layer to the rock kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Nico. All the underground hits.
All The Skatalites tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every James White and The Blacks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 arpeggiator and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Man Parrish record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Arthur Verocai,
The Vogues,
Rhythm & Sound,
Gang Gang Dance,
Roy Ayers,
Spandau Ballet,
Das Ding,
Fat Boys,
Fluxion,
Lalann,
Traffic Nightmare,
Mars,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Camberwell Now,
The Shadows of Knight,
Nas,
Monks,
Rufus Thomas,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Velvet Underground,
DNA,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Anthony Braxton,
Bad Manners,
Nirvana,
Robert Görl,
Youth Brigade,
The Blackbyrds,
In Retrospect,
The Residents,
The Standells,
Nico,
The Mojo Men,
The Skatalites,
The Smoke,
The Moody Blues,
Scratch Acid,
The Detroit Cobras,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Cheater Slicks,
ABBA,
The Seeds,
Barclay James Harvest,
Anakelly,
Kas Product,
Motorama,
The Associates,
Aswad,
Henry Cow,
Jeff Mills,
Fatback Band,
Agent Orange,
David Bowie,
Curtis Mayfield,
Eric B and Rakim,
Suburban Knight,
A Certain Ratio, A Certain Ratio, A Certain Ratio, A Certain Ratio.
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.