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 Trinidad & Tobago and from Columbus.
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 1962 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 Holger Czukay 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 Audionom to the rap 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 Quando Quango. All the underground hits.
All Curtis Mayfield tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every OOIOO 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Dark Day record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Cure,
The Velvet Underground,
Letta Mbulu,
Ultra Naté,
A Certain Ratio,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Last Poets,
cv313,
Agent Orange,
Donny Hathaway,
DJ Style,
Sex Pistols,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Yazoo,
Public Image Ltd.,
Flipper,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
The Golliwogs,
LL Cool J,
Henry Cow,
Drive Like Jehu,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
The Selecter,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Rapeman,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Eric Copeland,
Visage,
La Düsseldorf,
Gang Starr,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Ossler,
Hashim,
Derrick Morgan,
Fela Kuti,
Marc Almond,
Roy Ayers,
Soul II Soul,
Gang Gang Dance,
Sarah Menescal,
Toni Rubio,
Boz Scaggs,
Terrestrial Tones,
Todd Rundgren,
Joy Division,
Mars,
CMW,
The Move,
Aaron Thompson,
Sun City Girls,
the Human League,
Simply Red,
Black Flag,
Gang of Four,
Kenny Larkin,
Ornette Coleman,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Barclay James Harvest,
Talk Talk,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Stereo Dub,
Eric Dolphy,
Youth Brigade, Youth Brigade, Youth Brigade, Youth Brigade.
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.