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 Tuvalu and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia 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 1968 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Milan.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the rhodes 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 Eric Dolphy to the techno 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 The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. All the underground hits.
All Sugar Minott tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Flash Fearless record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Joe Smooth record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kurtis Blow,
The Moody Blues,
Fad Gadget,
OOIOO,
The Durutti Column,
Moebius,
Bizarre Inc.,
10cc,
Aswad,
Faraquet,
New Order,
Peter and Kerry,
Animal Collective,
Buzzcocks,
Groovy Waters,
The Index,
CMW,
Toni Rubio,
Iggy Pop,
Moby Grape,
The Knickerbockers,
Fear,
John Holt,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
David Axelrod,
E-Dancer,
Massinfluence,
The Count Five,
Sam Rivers,
Silicon Teens,
One Last Wish,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Sarah Menescal,
Pierre Henry,
The Slits,
Tommy Roe,
B.T. Express,
Black Pus,
JFA,
Circle Jerks,
Dual Sessions,
Radiohead,
Deakin,
Audionom,
Minnie Riperton,
Marvin Gaye,
Lalann,
Soul Sonic Force,
Gang of Four,
the Slits,
The Velvet Underground,
The Trojans,
T.S.O.L.,
Hardrive,
Sonic Youth,
New Age Steppers,
Johnny Clarke,
Vladislav Delay,
Eric Dolphy,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Jimmy McGriff,
Soul II Soul,
Can,
Loose Ends, Loose Ends, Loose Ends, Loose Ends.
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.