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 Korea South and from Calgary.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Chic show in New York.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Halifax.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 Holger Czukay 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 Flash Fearless to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Maleditus Sound. All the underground hits.
All Red Lorry Yellow Lorry tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Thee Headcoats 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying an organ and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a 10cc record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Human League,
Q and Not U,
The Music Machine,
Robert Görl,
Derrick May,
ABBA,
Thee Headcoats,
Loose Ends,
Jawbox,
JFA,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Cal Tjader,
Glambeats Corp.,
Eddi Front,
Jacob Miller,
The Saints,
Henry Cow,
Schoolly D,
The Happenings,
OOIOO,
Connie Case,
Johnny Osbourne,
Marc Almond,
Can,
Oblivians,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Main Source,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
The Neon Judgement,
Kevin Saunderson,
Ultra Naté,
Duran Duran,
Bootsy Collins,
Black Sheep,
Anakelly,
The Trojans,
Sparks,
Reuben Wilson,
John Coltrane,
Dark Day,
Mission of Burma,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Moody Blues,
New Age Steppers,
Ludus,
Rapeman,
Basic Channel,
KRS-One,
Agent Orange,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Ice-T,
Ohio Players,
Surgeon,
Alphaville,
Arthur Verocai,
Mary Jane Girls,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Flash Fearless,
Boredoms,
Bronski Beat,
Simply Red,
X-Ray Spex, X-Ray Spex, X-Ray Spex, X-Ray Spex.
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.