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 Ireland and from Calgary.
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 1967 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1976 at the first Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Scratch Acid to the techno kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Idris Muhammad. All the underground hits.
All Bobby Womack tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Das Ding record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Soulsonic Force record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Soft Machine,
Moss Icon,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Sällskapet,
Terry Callier,
The Leaves,
Sugar Minott,
MC5,
Tomorrow,
Main Source,
Graham Central Station,
Arcadia,
Rakim,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Y Pants,
Funky Four + One,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Spandau Ballet,
Jacob Miller,
The United States of America,
Grauzone,
Altered Images,
Cymande,
Glenn Branca,
Johnny Clarke,
Second Layer,
Chrome,
Mantronix,
Television Personalities,
Mark Hollis,
Curtis Mayfield,
Bad Manners,
Swell Maps,
Piero Umiliani,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Vainqueur,
Qualms,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Doors,
L. Decosne,
The Mojo Men,
Pussy Galore,
Procol Harum,
Ice-T,
Isaac Hayes,
Crispy Ambulance,
Pet Shop Boys,
Fear,
Peter and Kerry,
Tommy Roe,
H. Thieme,
Wings,
Trumans Water,
Jerry Gold Smith,
F. McDonald,
The Grass Roots,
Hot Snakes,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Lou Christie, Lou Christie, Lou Christie, Lou Christie.
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.