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 Costa Rica and from Beijing.
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 1963 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Procol Harum to the rap kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Kool Moe Dee. All the underground hits.
All Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bobby Byrd 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 clarinet and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gang of Four record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Minny Pops,
Albert Ayler,
Massinfluence,
Hoover,
The Last Poets,
Sound Behaviour,
Eric Copeland,
The Raincoats,
Black Pus,
Johnny Osbourne,
Delta 5,
Lou Christie,
The Smoke,
Pantytec,
Das Ding,
Fad Gadget,
The Invisible,
Reuben Wilson,
Stockholm Monsters,
Sällskapet,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Aloha Tigers,
Tears for Fears,
Henry Cow,
The Trojans,
Blake Baxter,
John Coltrane,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Flash Fearless,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Con Funk Shun,
Average White Band,
Section 25,
Ituana,
Alton Ellis,
The Selecter,
Dual Sessions,
Urselle,
Frankie Knuckles,
Wings,
Bobby Womack,
The Motions,
Surgeon,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
X-Ray Spex,
Matthew Halsall,
Silicon Teens,
Mo-Dettes,
The Golliwogs,
Todd Rundgren,
Public Image Ltd.,
LL Cool J,
Lungfish,
Cecil Taylor,
Robert Wyatt,
Soul Sonic Force,
Pantaleimon,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Bush Tetras,
MC5, MC5, MC5, MC5.
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.