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 Pakistan and from Johannesburg.
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 1968 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines to the punk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Matthew Bourne. All the underground hits.
All Scan 7 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Chris Corsano record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 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 The Skatalites record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Barclay James Harvest,
Blossom Toes,
Banda Bassotti,
Terrestrial Tones,
Cal Tjader,
Stockholm Monsters,
Pharoah Sanders,
Lebanon Hanover,
Bang On A Can,
the Germs,
The Monks,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Laurel Aitken,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Monochrome Set,
Fat Boys,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Sunsets and Hearts,
The Kinks,
Aaron Thompson,
OOIOO,
Nation of Ulysses,
Das Ding,
Wasted Youth,
Roxette,
The Gun Club,
Connie Case,
John Foxx,
Crooked Eye,
Harry Pussy,
Radiopuhelimet,
Eurythmics,
Soft Cell,
Minnie Riperton,
Thompson Twins,
Eric Copeland,
Moby Grape,
kango's stein massive,
David Bowie,
Qualms,
The Sonics,
Swans,
Alton Ellis,
Eric Dolphy,
Sight & Sound,
Brothers Johnson,
Bob Dylan,
Eric B and Rakim,
Tom Boy,
Drexciya,
Main Source,
Chris Corsano,
The Count Five,
ABC,
Section 25,
The Blues Magoos,
The Evens,
Camberwell Now,
John Holt,
Funky Four + One, Funky Four + One, Funky Four + One, Funky Four + One.
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.