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 Bolivia and from Bremen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1969 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 808 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 The Smoke to the crunk 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 Hot Snakes. All the underground hits.
All Idris Muhammad tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Terror Squad Feat. Camron record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Mighty Diamonds record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Accadde A,
Amon Düül,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Kerrie Biddell,
Oneida,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Eli Mardock,
Alice Coltrane,
Skarface,
Bizarre Inc.,
Derrick Morgan,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
H. Thieme,
Ituana,
MC5,
Dead Boys,
Sun Ra,
Sam Rivers,
Lou Reed,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Yellowson,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Barclay James Harvest,
Zapp,
Malaria!,
T.S.O.L.,
Cecil Taylor,
The Mojo Men,
Cheater Slicks,
Circle Jerks,
Basic Channel,
Section 25,
Rotary Connection,
John Holt,
Funky Four + One,
Gong,
The Standells,
the Sonics,
Q and Not U,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Cybotron,
Ludus,
Index,
Ornette Coleman,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Qualms,
the Germs,
This Heat,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Jimmy McGriff,
Brothers Johnson,
Lucky Dragons,
Lebanon Hanover,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Lungfish,
Television Personalities,
Los Fastidios,
The Black Dice,
Bobby Sherman,
The Walker Brothers,
Public Enemy,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Little Man, Little Man, Little Man, Little Man.
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.