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 Kenya and from Philadelphia.
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 1962 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Anakelly to the electroclash kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Saccharine Trust. All the underground hits.
All Spoonie Gee tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Blake Baxter record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Cosmic Jokers,
Stetsasonic,
Johnny Clarke,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Soft Machine,
Lebanon Hanover,
Crooked Eye,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Black Pus,
Brass Construction,
Public Enemy,
Pet Shop Boys,
Joey Negro,
Pylon,
The Martian,
Sex Pistols,
Fugazi,
Nico,
Basic Channel,
Fela Kuti,
Half Japanese,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Anthony Braxton,
Khruangbin,
OOIOO,
U.S. Maple,
The Young Rascals,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Man Parrish,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
The Vogues,
Clear Light,
Marvin Gaye,
The Doobie Brothers,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Nas,
Von Mondo,
Yaz,
Minutemen,
Sister Nancy,
The Walker Brothers,
Kas Product,
Byron Stingily,
Lower 48,
Warsaw,
The Invisible,
The Moody Blues,
June Days,
Television Personalities,
Delta 5,
Rapeman,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Black Dice,
Avey Tare,
Eric B and Rakim,
Terrestrial Tones,
R.M.O.,
The Wake,
The Pop Group,
Camberwell Now,
Aloha Tigers,
Max Romeo,
Skarface,
Carl Craig, Carl Craig, Carl Craig, Carl Craig.
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.