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 Lithuania and from Tehran.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Art of Noise show in 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 1963 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Ornette Coleman to the grime 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 Strawberry Alarm Clock. All the underground hits.
All Rosa Yemen tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fluxion record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rhythm & Sound record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Alarm Clocks,
Fluxion,
Davy DMX,
June Days,
Delon & Dalcan,
Circle Jerks,
Dead Boys,
Saccharine Trust,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Eric Dolphy,
Ice-T,
The Slits,
Godley & Creme,
Angry Samoans,
Sun Ra,
Barbara Tucker,
Prince Buster,
Country Teasers,
Lou Christie,
Clear Light,
Half Japanese,
Mo-Dettes,
Nirvana,
Josef K,
Iggy Pop,
The Smiths,
Erykah Badu,
Nation of Ulysses,
DNA,
Roger Hodgson,
Sällskapet,
Erasure,
Maleditus Sound,
Average White Band,
The Cramps,
Bob Dylan,
Glambeats Corp.,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Howard Jones,
Ponytail,
The Mummies,
Monolake,
Stetsasonic,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Siglo XX,
Cameo,
The Fall,
Pole,
The Residents,
Das Ding,
Bill Wells,
Television,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Mad Mike,
D'Angelo,
The Misunderstood,
Fugazi,
Aural Exciters,
Nas,
Black Bananas,
Junior Murvin, Junior Murvin, Junior Murvin, Junior Murvin.
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.