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 Mexico and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 marimba 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 Rhythim Is Rhythim to the techno kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Desert Stars. All the underground hits.
All Y Pants tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Aswad 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kango’s Stein Massive record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
ABC,
Michelle Simonal,
Terry Callier,
Danielle Patucci,
Bauhaus,
Technova,
Tim Buckley,
Organ,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Susan Cadogan,
Scratch Acid,
Mars,
Fat Boys,
Neil Young,
cv313,
Gil Scott Heron,
MC5,
Newcleus,
Erykah Badu,
Lungfish,
Sugar Minott,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Surgeon,
The Wake,
Average White Band,
Robert Görl,
The Last Poets,
Johnny Osbourne,
Iggy Pop,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
David Axelrod,
Stereo Dub,
Pylon,
Kurtis Blow,
Echospace,
Byron Stingily,
Tom Boy,
Sight & Sound,
The Beau Brummels,
Suicide,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
the Germs,
Negative Approach,
The Fall,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The Names,
Kaleidoscope,
Wolf Eyes,
The Flesh Eaters,
Robert Wyatt,
Sister Nancy,
Adolescents,
Tubeway Army,
A Certain Ratio,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Yazoo,
Bobby Sherman,
The Seeds,
Young Marble Giants,
Lakeside,
Joe Finger, Joe Finger, Joe Finger, Joe Finger.
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.