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 Yemen and from Delhi.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1969 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Traffic Nightmare to the rap kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Tres Demented. All the underground hits.
All JFA tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Marvin Gaye record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 spring reverb and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lower 48 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Max Romeo,
Letta Mbulu,
Jeru the Damaja,
Man Parrish,
The Real Kids,
The J.B.'s,
The Count Five,
Altered Images,
The Electric Prunes,
Moby Grape,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Eric Dolphy,
Average White Band,
Howard Jones,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Cameo,
Bobby Byrd,
The American Breed,
Black Moon,
Anthony Braxton,
The Doors,
Soft Machine,
New Order,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Connie Case,
Lalo Schifrin,
Maleditus Sound,
K-Klass,
Danielle Patucci,
Negative Approach,
Kas Product,
Blossom Toes,
Sandy B,
Sixth Finger,
Grey Daturas,
Pere Ubu,
Hasil Adkins,
Graham Central Station,
Severed Heads,
Shoche,
Excepter,
Dave Gahan,
JFA,
Procol Harum,
Johnny Clarke,
Eric B and Rakim,
Scrapy,
Japan,
Stereo Dub,
Ludus,
Jeff Lynne,
Dead Boys,
T. Rex,
In Retrospect,
Jeff Mills,
Arthur Verocai,
Dennis Brown,
Grandmaster Flash,
Lee Hazlewood,
Reagan Youth,
New Age Steppers,
The Seeds, The Seeds, The Seeds, The Seeds.
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.