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 United Kingdom and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1964 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 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 The Monks to the funk kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Warsaw. All the underground hits.
All The Searchers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Severed Heads record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 synthesizer and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Basic Channel record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Andrew Hill,
The Blackbyrds,
Peter and Kerry,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Smog,
Wolf Eyes,
Unwound,
Y Pants,
Can,
Joe Smooth,
The Pop Group,
Scrapy,
The Human League,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Count Five,
Lindisfarne,
Delta 5,
Alton Ellis,
Nik Kershaw,
Frankie Knuckles,
Inner City,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Average White Band,
Masters at Work,
Harpers Bizarre,
James White and The Blacks,
Marc Almond,
The Beau Brummels,
Dual Sessions,
Amon Düül,
Porter Ricks,
Cecil Taylor,
Rod Modell,
In Retrospect,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Ultravox,
Shoche,
The Skatalites,
Desert Stars,
Skarface,
Qualms,
The Slits,
Lebanon Hanover,
Danielle Patucci,
the Sonics,
Magma,
Whodini,
Intrusion,
The Fuzztones,
Michelle Simonal,
Stereo Dub,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
The Mummies,
The Walker Brothers,
Brass Construction,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Buzzcocks,
Motorama,
Icehouse,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Gichy Dan,
Scratch Acid,
Cymande,
Fifty Foot Hose, Fifty Foot Hose, Fifty Foot Hose, Fifty Foot Hose.
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.