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 Kyrgyzstan and from Accra.
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 Lille and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 1978 at the first Visage 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 Zero Boys to the grime 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 Lou Reed & Metallica. All the underground hits.
All Negative Approach tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ronan record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Brand Nubian record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rhythm & Sound,
The Cure,
Gang of Four,
Bobby Byrd,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Bill Wells,
The Monks,
Interpol,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Massinfluence,
Arcadia,
Swell Maps,
Todd Terry,
Prince Buster,
Johnny Clarke,
John Foxx,
Whodini,
Hoover,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Pussy Galore,
Max Romeo,
Jeff Mills,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Traffic Nightmare,
Johnny Osbourne,
Jeff Lynne,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
kango's stein massive,
The Moody Blues,
Crash Course in Science,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Kerri Chandler,
Moebius,
Reagan Youth,
John Cale,
The Sonics,
Lungfish,
Sun City Girls,
Zapp,
Rakim,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
The Slackers,
The Golliwogs,
The Blues Magoos,
Laurel Aitken,
ABBA,
Underground Resistance,
Altered Images,
Deadbeat,
Amazonics,
Josef K,
the Soft Cell,
Sexual Harrassment,
Mr. Review,
Anthony Braxton,
Ponytail,
Drive Like Jehu,
Fela Kuti,
Gichy Dan,
The Slits,
Donny Hathaway,
The Motions, The Motions, The Motions, The Motions.
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.