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 El Salvador and from Salvador.
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 1967 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 The Fire Engines to the disco 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 Television Personalities. All the underground hits.
All Groovy Waters tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Real Kids 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Eric Copeland record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Model 500,
Isaac Hayes,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Gang of Four,
Desert Stars,
Gong,
Max Romeo,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Pharoah Sanders,
Mars,
Fear,
The Count Five,
Soft Cell,
Au Pairs,
Mo-Dettes,
A Certain Ratio,
The Detroit Cobras,
Lalo Schifrin,
Barry Ungar,
Monks,
Avey Tare,
Whodini,
The Zeros,
Lower 48,
It's A Beautiful Day,
The Smoke,
Crispy Ambulance,
Flamin' Groovies,
Japan,
Brick,
Minutemen,
Accadde A,
Frankie Knuckles,
Thompson Twins,
New York Dolls,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Pere Ubu,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Althea and Donna,
Siglo XX,
David Bowie,
Gerry Rafferty,
Fluxion,
the Normal,
Janne Schatter,
Jimmy McGriff,
Suburban Knight,
Rapeman,
Junior Murvin,
Jesper Dahlback,
Mantronix,
China Crisis,
Fatback Band,
Aaron Thompson,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Girls At Our Best!,
The Move,
Charles Mingus, Charles Mingus, Charles Mingus, Charles Mingus.
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.