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 Guinea-Bissau and from Columbus.
But I was there.
I was there in 1973.
I was there at the first Television show in New York.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 synthesizer 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 Joe Smooth to the funk 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 Kenny Larkin. All the underground hits.
All Faraquet tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ronan record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Curtis Mayfield record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The American Breed,
Organ,
Siglo XX,
The Move,
Flipper,
X-102,
Chris & Cosey,
John Holt,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Bill Near,
The Mojo Men,
Stetsasonic,
Young Marble Giants,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
B.T. Express,
Oneida,
Johnny Clarke,
Cheater Slicks,
Sex Pistols,
Slick Rick,
In Retrospect,
Con Funk Shun,
Babytalk,
Alison Limerick,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Ice-T,
Max Romeo,
the Soft Cell,
Skarface,
Fear,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
MDC,
Thee Headcoats,
Inner City,
Avey Tare,
Whodini,
Ken Boothe,
Lakeside,
Toni Rubio,
Sight & Sound,
Michelle Simonal,
The Litter,
T. Rex,
Lower 48,
Barry Ungar,
Byron Stingily,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Black Pus,
Rufus Thomas,
Aswad,
Brand Nubian,
The Monochrome Set,
Shuggie Otis,
Flash Fearless,
Dead Boys,
Mary Jane Girls,
Bobby Sherman, Bobby Sherman, Bobby Sherman, Bobby Sherman.
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.