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 Switzerland and from Delhi.
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 1969 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 clarinet 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 Judy Mowatt to the disco 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 Pharoah Sanders. All the underground hits.
All Bootsy's Rubber Band tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bobby Sherman 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Marshall Jefferson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
48th St. Collective,
Warsaw,
Radiopuhelimet,
Gang of Four,
Robert Görl,
Monks,
Darondo,
Scan 7,
The Seeds,
Kayak,
Sun City Girls,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Sound,
T.S.O.L.,
Zero Boys,
Crash Course in Science,
Inner City,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Heaven 17,
Accadde A,
Delta 5,
Black Pus,
OOIOO,
Alice Coltrane,
Rekid,
Nation of Ulysses,
Wally Richardson,
Hashim,
Sällskapet,
Yazoo,
Jesper Dahlback,
The Fire Engines,
Khruangbin,
Gang Starr,
Q65,
Groovy Waters,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Michelle Simonal,
The Kinks,
Stereo Dub,
The J.B.'s,
Peter and Kerry,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Crispian St. Peters,
Sugar Minott,
Mo-Dettes,
The Residents,
Con Funk Shun,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Soulsonic Force,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Danielle Patucci,
Gastr Del Sol,
Colin Newman,
Swell Maps,
Scientists,
Freddie Wadling,
Fat Boys,
Minnie Riperton,
Joy Division,
Soft Cell,
the Swans,
Glenn Branca,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.
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.