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 Morocco and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1969 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Red Lorry Yellow Lorry 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 Brand Nubian. All the underground hits.
All Index tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Donny Hathaway record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Swans record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pantaleimon,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Underground Resistance,
The Walker Brothers,
Rosa Yemen,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Carl Craig,
Lebanon Hanover,
Michelle Simonal,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Erykah Badu,
Girls At Our Best!,
Jimmy McGriff,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Mad Mike,
Quando Quango,
Traffic Nightmare,
Matthew Halsall,
Brass Construction,
Boogie Down Productions,
James White and The Blacks,
Graham Central Station,
Fela Kuti,
Zero Boys,
Todd Terry,
MDC,
The Electric Prunes,
Deakin,
Joy Division,
Josef K,
Neu!,
The Offenders,
Agent Orange,
Eden Ahbez,
Tears for Fears,
The Divine Comedy,
Alison Limerick,
Silicon Teens,
Oneida,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Brothers Johnson,
Alton Ellis,
Lalann,
Visage,
Nick Fraelich,
Scott Walker,
New Age Steppers,
David McCallum,
Derrick Morgan,
Basic Channel,
KRS-One,
Bronski Beat,
Liliput,
Roxette,
Stereo Dub,
Reuben Wilson,
JFA,
Sonny Sharrock,
a-ha,
Roger Hodgson,
Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Flash.
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.