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 Spain and from London.
But I was there.
I was there in 1980.
I was there at the first Cybotron 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 1960 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Neu! to the grime kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Red Lorry Yellow Lorry. All the underground hits.
All Jesper Dahlback tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Brothers Johnson 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Scratch Acid record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Reuben Wilson,
Outsiders,
Index,
Gichy Dan,
Pantaleimon,
Easy Going,
The Durutti Column,
Joensuu 1685,
Wally Richardson,
Schoolly D,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Monks,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Don Cherry,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Human League,
Angry Samoans,
Wasted Youth,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Sarah Menescal,
Scan 7,
Danielle Patucci,
Judy Mowatt,
Rapeman,
Marine Girls,
Procol Harum,
Zapp,
The Fortunes,
Neil Young,
Heaven 17,
Matthew Halsall,
ABC,
The Birthday Party,
Davy DMX,
Leonard Cohen,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
10cc,
Smog,
Arab on Radar,
E-Dancer,
Boredoms,
Marshall Jefferson,
Quantec,
Sällskapet,
Supertramp,
ABBA,
Blake Baxter,
Gastr Del Sol,
Q and Not U,
Pussy Galore,
Lucky Dragons,
Fatback Band,
Rhythm & Sound,
Soft Cell,
Todd Terry,
Dorothy Ashby,
Stiv Bators,
Idris Muhammad,
Yellowson,
Eli Mardock,
The Last Poets,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Ken Boothe, Ken Boothe, Ken Boothe, Ken Boothe.
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.