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 Iceland and from Tehran.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1961 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 marimba 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 Pole to the dance kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Fela Kuti. All the underground hits.
All Magazine tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Men They Couldn't Hang 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The American Breed record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jacques Brel,
Eve St. Jones,
Minor Threat,
Eric Copeland,
The Electric Prunes,
Mantronix,
The Moody Blues,
June of 44,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Bobby Byrd,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Man Eating Sloth,
Babytalk,
Visage,
Loose Ends,
The Divine Comedy,
The Knickerbockers,
Janne Schatter,
Deakin,
The Invisible,
The Angels of Light,
Malaria!,
Flash Fearless,
Connie Case,
The Remains,
the Germs,
Gang Green,
Frankie Knuckles,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Rhythm & Sound,
Robert Görl,
Supertramp,
Pet Shop Boys,
Banda Bassotti,
Donald Byrd,
Thee Headcoats,
Archie Shepp,
Unrelated Segments,
Ronan,
Model 500,
Eden Ahbez,
Average White Band,
Colin Newman,
Porter Ricks,
Pharoah Sanders,
Reagan Youth,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Max Romeo,
Howard Jones,
Girls At Our Best!,
The Dave Clark Five,
Lebanon Hanover,
Rapeman,
Siglo XX,
Skriet,
Yusef Lateef,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Barbara Tucker,
the Association,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Yazoo,
Johnny Clarke, Johnny Clarke, Johnny Clarke, Johnny Clarke.
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.