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 Sudan and from Sao Paulo.
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 1967 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the snare 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 David Axelrod to the funk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 D'Angelo. All the underground hits.
All Gang Green tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Japan record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Skaos record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
John Coltrane,
Pantytec,
Intrusion,
The Doobie Brothers,
Wolf Eyes,
Oneida,
Judy Mowatt,
The Pop Group,
Second Layer,
Rod Modell,
Juan Atkins,
The Residents,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Deepchord,
Mantronix,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
The Cowsills,
New Order,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Johnny Osbourne,
Hot Snakes,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Barracudas,
Gichy Dan,
Magazine,
Terrestrial Tones,
MC5,
Excepter,
Amon Düül,
Electric Prunes,
Silicon Teens,
The Toasters,
F. McDonald,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Das Ding,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Flesh Eaters,
Sight & Sound,
Trumans Water,
Matthew Halsall,
Idris Muhammad,
Kevin Saunderson,
Flipper,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Deakin,
B.T. Express,
Hoover,
Jacques Brel,
The American Breed,
Marvin Gaye,
Thee Headcoats,
Fatback Band,
June Days,
Henry Cow,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Michelle Simonal,
The Searchers,
The Kinks,
Sun Ra,
Youth Brigade, Youth Brigade, Youth Brigade, Youth Brigade.
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.