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 Finland and from Seoul.
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 1965 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the marimba 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 Pussy Galore to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Johnny Osbourne. All the underground hits.
All Erasure tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Soul II Soul 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 '70s.
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 Black Bananas record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
KRS-One,
the Normal,
Mark Hollis,
Sonny Sharrock,
Youth Brigade,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Scratch Acid,
Soft Cell,
Organ,
The Happenings,
Barrington Levy,
Amon Düül,
Soft Machine,
Sarah Menescal,
The Monochrome Set,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
ABBA,
New Order,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Camouflage,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Ken Boothe,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Marshall Jefferson,
Faust,
Cal Tjader,
Amazonics,
Donny Hathaway,
Bill Wells,
Magazine,
Flamin' Groovies,
The Doors,
Procol Harum,
Nils Olav,
R.M.O.,
Fela Kuti,
Hoover,
Con Funk Shun,
The Electric Prunes,
The Knickerbockers,
Howard Jones,
The Saints,
ABC,
Curtis Mayfield,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Busters,
Jerry's Kids,
Pierre Henry,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Bob Dylan,
The Kinks,
Underground Resistance,
Neu!,
The Wake,
Black Flag,
Jacob Miller,
K-Klass,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Sound,
JFA,
Radio Birdman,
Robert Wyatt,
Joensuu 1685,
Can, Can, Can, Can.
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.