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 Latvia and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Eve St. Jones to the crunk 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 Rosa Yemen. All the underground hits.
All cv313 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Drive Like Jehu 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 spring reverb and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Cymande record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Searchers,
Quando Quango,
Guru Guru,
Minnie Riperton,
Bill Near,
Funky Four + One,
Stereo Dub,
PIL,
Hashim,
the Slits,
Average White Band,
Boz Scaggs,
Alison Limerick,
Interpol,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Cameo,
X-101,
OOIOO,
AZ,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Duran Duran,
Andrew Hill,
Basic Channel,
Livin' Joy,
Scientists,
Television,
Royal Trux,
Crispy Ambulance,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Groovy Waters,
Magma,
Ultravox,
Avey Tare,
T.S.O.L.,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Siglo XX,
The Evens,
B.T. Express,
Lower 48,
Cluster,
Black Sheep,
Lyres,
The Moody Blues,
Black Moon,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Easy Going,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Blues Magoos,
Robert Hood,
Lebanon Hanover,
Skaos,
The Beau Brummels,
Bobby Womack,
The Sonics,
The Music Machine,
The Detroit Cobras,
Matthew Halsall,
The Dirtbombs,
John Holt,
Rufus Thomas,
Franke,
Index,
The Mummies, The Mummies, The Mummies, The Mummies.
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.