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 Laos and from Seoul.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1963 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band to the crunk 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 Justin Hinds & The Dominoes. All the underground hits.
All Matthew Bourne tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bill Wells record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Andrew Hill,
Erasure,
Roy Ayers,
The Beau Brummels,
a-ha,
The Grass Roots,
Godley & Creme,
Terrestrial Tones,
Sonic Youth,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Harry Pussy,
The Five Americans,
Davy DMX,
Eddi Front,
Johnny Clarke,
Matthew Halsall,
Index,
The Toasters,
The Dave Clark Five,
Bizarre Inc.,
Soul II Soul,
Infiniti,
Fatback Band,
Blossom Toes,
F. McDonald,
Outsiders,
New York Dolls,
The Fugs,
Grandmaster Flash,
Scientists,
Shoche,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Sex Pistols,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
The Blackbyrds,
Ponytail,
Jandek,
Sam Rivers,
Eric Copeland,
DJ Style,
Joe Finger,
Livin' Joy,
Peter and Kerry,
Crime,
Lalo Schifrin,
The Moody Blues,
Masters at Work,
Mary Jane Girls,
Sister Nancy,
Loose Ends,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Maurizio,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
48th St. Collective,
Lyres,
Ronnie Foster,
Khruangbin,
Rakim,
The Saints, The Saints, The Saints, The Saints.
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.