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 Namibia and from Johannesburg.
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 Mumbai and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Drexciya to the crunk 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 Swans. All the underground hits.
All Delta 5 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Simply Red 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ronnie Foster record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Grauzone,
Suburban Knight,
Echospace,
New Age Steppers,
New Order,
Josef K,
Hashim,
The Slits,
H. Thieme,
Organ,
Eric Dolphy,
David Bowie,
DJ Sneak,
Bob Dylan,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Cowsills,
Brand Nubian,
Dorothy Ashby,
Moebius,
Ornette Coleman,
the Sonics,
This Heat,
Negative Approach,
Pet Shop Boys,
Kurtis Blow,
The Associates,
The Smiths,
Faraquet,
Faust,
Soft Machine,
Au Pairs,
Ralphi Rosario,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Nation of Ulysses,
Q and Not U,
Heaven 17,
The Tremeloes,
The Shadows of Knight,
Skaos,
Lyres,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
F. McDonald,
Public Enemy,
Johnny Osbourne,
Sällskapet,
Groovy Waters,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
The Human League,
Eden Ahbez,
Freddie Wadling,
Marvin Gaye,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Babytalk,
Robert Wyatt,
Pole,
Altered Images,
Radio Birdman,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Black Pus,
Black Bananas, Black Bananas, Black Bananas, Black Bananas.
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.