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 Switzerland and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Chic show in New York.
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 1967 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Funkadelic to the punk 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 Young Marble Giants. All the underground hits.
All Youth Brigade tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Durutti Column record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Neon Judgement,
Outsiders,
Brick,
The Kinks,
Moss Icon,
Todd Terry,
The Mojo Men,
The Evens,
Lyres,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Make Up,
Prince Buster,
Drexciya,
Chris Corsano,
Siglo XX,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Detroit Cobras,
The Red Krayola,
Quando Quango,
Cameo,
Fela Kuti,
Robert Wyatt,
Funkadelic,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Curtis Mayfield,
Piero Umiliani,
Model 500,
Metal Thangz,
Cecil Taylor,
Japan,
Interpol,
Ralphi Rosario,
L. Decosne,
Neu!,
The Human League,
Whodini,
Roger Hodgson,
The Dirtbombs,
Goldenarms,
Amon Düül,
Magazine,
Television Personalities,
Q and Not U,
Monolake,
David McCallum,
Wire,
Amazonics,
June of 44,
Theoretical Girls,
Bizarre Inc.,
Marshall Jefferson,
David Axelrod,
Mo-Dettes,
Henry Cow,
Ituana,
Althea and Donna,
Terrestrial Tones,
Lucky Dragons,
ABC,
Negative Approach, Negative Approach, Negative Approach, Negative Approach.
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.