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 St Kitts & Nevis and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1966 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Beijing.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the rhodes 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 Kevin Saunderson to the grime kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 New York Dolls. All the underground hits.
All Little Man tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Piero Umiliani record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 marimba and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rufus Thomas record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
T. Rex,
Minnie Riperton,
Ronan,
Ken Boothe,
10cc,
Drive Like Jehu,
JFA,
Byron Stingily,
Rapeman,
Isaac Hayes,
The Associates,
Albert Ayler,
Skaos,
Ice-T,
Sarah Menescal,
Cybotron,
U.S. Maple,
Cheater Slicks,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Morten Harket,
Bad Manners,
Kerri Chandler,
Bluetip,
Alphaville,
Sam Rivers,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Maleditus Sound,
Organ,
Joe Finger,
cv313,
The Dead C,
Tommy Roe,
Matthew Bourne,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The Standells,
DJ Style,
Terry Callier,
OOIOO,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Erykah Badu,
Mark Hollis,
Ludus,
Excepter,
Boogie Down Productions,
Spandau Ballet,
Rekid,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Fela Kuti,
Steve Hackett,
The Seeds,
Danielle Patucci,
Scion,
The Count Five,
Panda Bear,
James White and The Blacks,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Donny Hathaway,
Hardrive,
Reuben Wilson,
Minutemen,
Jesper Dahlback,
The Leaves, The Leaves, The Leaves, The Leaves.
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.