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 Tonga and from Bremen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Manila.
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 linndrum 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 Black Flag to the punk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Public Enemy. All the underground hits.
All Richard Hell and the Voidoids tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Darondo record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Offenders record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lakeside,
Hashim,
Shoche,
Todd Terry,
Wally Richardson,
Gregory Isaacs,
Godley & Creme,
Eli Mardock,
Roxy Music,
Hardrive,
Whodini,
the Soft Cell,
Erykah Badu,
Pet Shop Boys,
Von Mondo,
Rekid,
Lalo Schifrin,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Rotary Connection,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Surgeon,
FM Einheit,
Depeche Mode,
Can,
The Cowsills,
DNA,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Mojo Men,
Con Funk Shun,
Black Flag,
Trumans Water,
Procol Harum,
Todd Rundgren,
Gong,
Magazine,
Arthur Verocai,
Sarah Menescal,
Heaven 17,
Gabor Szabo,
Josef K,
Buzzcocks,
The Doobie Brothers,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Massinfluence,
a-ha,
Pharoah Sanders,
Henry Cow,
Ultimate Spinach,
Radio Birdman,
Thee Headcoats,
Bobby Womack,
Smog,
Isaac Hayes,
The Divine Comedy,
ABBA,
Shuggie Otis,
Dennis Brown,
This Heat,
Susan Cadogan,
Kas Product,
Agitation Free,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Ash Ra Tempel, Ash Ra Tempel, Ash Ra Tempel, Ash Ra Tempel.
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.