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 Peru and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 Beijing and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Lebanon Hanover to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Joe Smooth. All the underground hits.
All Bootsy Collins tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The American Breed record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Newcleus record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Icehouse,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Dark Day,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Eurythmics,
Cecil Taylor,
Sarah Menescal,
The Saints,
Skarface,
Nas,
The Gladiators,
Nick Fraelich,
Loose Ends,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Alton Ellis,
Q65,
Easy Going,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Bobby Byrd,
Pere Ubu,
Minnie Riperton,
The Monochrome Set,
JFA,
Smog,
Monks,
Lower 48,
Curtis Mayfield,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Rakim,
The Last Poets,
10cc,
Black Moon,
Boredoms,
Radiopuhelimet,
the Association,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Techniques,
David Axelrod,
Yusef Lateef,
The Fortunes,
Rapeman,
Sonny Sharrock,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Alice Coltrane,
Q and Not U,
Bobby Womack,
James White and The Blacks,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Soulsonic Force,
Altered Images,
Gichy Dan,
Chris Corsano,
Rosa Yemen,
H. Thieme,
Susan Cadogan,
D'Angelo,
Simply Red,
Rufus Thomas,
Minor Threat,
Blossom Toes,
Warren Ellis, Warren Ellis, Warren Ellis, Warren Ellis.
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.