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 Denmark and from Edmonton.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 organ 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 Fifty Foot Hose to the electroclash 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 Yusef Lateef. All the underground hits.
All Newcleus tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Grass Roots 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lou Reed & Metallica record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Von Mondo,
Boogie Down Productions,
Pulsallama,
Model 500,
Organ,
The Neon Judgement,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
the Bar-Kays,
MC5,
Connie Case,
Arcadia,
Dual Sessions,
Zapp,
Spoonie Gee,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Jesper Dahlback,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Con Funk Shun,
Zero Boys,
Minnie Riperton,
X-Ray Spex,
Alphaville,
Harpers Bizarre,
Das Ding,
Warsaw,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Tropical Tobacco,
Crispy Ambulance,
Dawn Penn,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Gang Starr,
The Seeds,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Birthday Party,
Scientists,
Surgeon,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
FM Einheit,
Ice-T,
Gichy Dan,
DJ Style,
The Slits,
Neu!,
The Cowsills,
Tubeway Army,
the Soft Cell,
Curtis Mayfield,
Nas,
Clear Light,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Arthur Verocai,
ABC,
Rosa Yemen,
Terry Callier,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Eden Ahbez,
The Toasters,
Ralphi Rosario, Ralphi Rosario, Ralphi Rosario, Ralphi Rosario.
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.