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 Mozambique and from Spokane.
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 1966 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 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 LL Cool J to the rap kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Lonnie Liston Smith. All the underground hits.
All De La Soul & Jungle Brothers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Tropical Tobacco record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a John Coltrane record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Duran Duran,
Fear,
Outsiders,
Gastr Del Sol,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Vogues,
the Germs,
Graham Central Station,
These Immortal Souls,
The Move,
Judy Mowatt,
Al Stewart,
The Invisible,
Moby Grape,
Vladislav Delay,
The Leaves,
Hashim,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Susan Cadogan,
Cecil Taylor,
Lower 48,
David McCallum,
F. McDonald,
The Index,
Aaron Thompson,
Rod Modell,
Deadbeat,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Monolake,
The Kinks,
Ultravox,
OOIOO,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
The Gladiators,
Desert Stars,
Altered Images,
Ponytail,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Adolescents,
Sun Ra,
Jacob Miller,
The Red Krayola,
The Last Poets,
Royal Trux,
Skarface,
Minor Threat,
The Techniques,
The Neon Judgement,
Colin Newman,
Marine Girls,
Camouflage,
Wasted Youth,
Young Marble Giants,
Brass Construction,
Radiopuhelimet,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Nation of Ulysses,
Das Ding,
Aural Exciters,
the Human League, the Human League, the Human League, the Human League.
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.