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 Canada and from Toronto.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1977 at the first Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Skaos to the rap kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Intrusion. All the underground hits.
All Grey Daturas tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Metal Thangz 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 a guitar and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Doobie Brothers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
X-Ray Spex,
Girls At Our Best!,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Matthew Bourne,
the Fania All-Stars,
Surgeon,
The Stooges,
Cameo,
Au Pairs,
Dead Boys,
Wings,
One Last Wish,
Letta Mbulu,
Suicide,
Duran Duran,
Agent Orange,
Godley & Creme,
New York Dolls,
AZ,
Fugazi,
the Germs,
Mary Jane Girls,
Youth Brigade,
Intrusion,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Camouflage,
Young Marble Giants,
The American Breed,
Laurel Aitken,
Ultra Naté,
In Retrospect,
Jesper Dahlback,
the Bar-Kays,
Brass Construction,
Spandau Ballet,
Marcia Griffiths,
Wire,
Jandek,
Subhumans,
Adolescents,
Sonny Sharrock,
Desert Stars,
Yusef Lateef,
Vainqueur,
Andrew Hill,
Gabor Szabo,
Funkadelic,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Don Cherry,
Alice Coltrane,
Television Personalities,
Lindisfarne,
The Busters,
Joy Division,
Drexciya,
World's Most,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
B.T. Express,
Peter & Gordon,
These Immortal Souls,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Pharoah Sanders, Pharoah Sanders, Pharoah Sanders, Pharoah Sanders.
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.