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 Suriname and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1962 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Kool G Rap & DJ Polo to the rock kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Glenn Branca. All the underground hits.
All Echospace tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Grandmaster Flash record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a EPMD record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sugar Minott,
Henry Cow,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Human League,
Zapp,
Blake Baxter,
Shuggie Otis,
Easy Going,
Arcadia,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Erasure,
John Cale,
Surgeon,
Aswad,
Kerri Chandler,
Eli Mardock,
Davy DMX,
Soft Machine,
One Last Wish,
The Alarm Clocks,
Eric Dolphy,
Girls At Our Best!,
The Motions,
a-ha,
The Electric Prunes,
The Golliwogs,
Moss Icon,
Darondo,
Symarip,
Public Image Ltd.,
Aural Exciters,
Reagan Youth,
Bad Manners,
Gichy Dan,
Pere Ubu,
Minnie Riperton,
John Coltrane,
Urselle,
The Vogues,
Moebius,
The Doobie Brothers,
Intrusion,
Sound Behaviour,
The Shadows of Knight,
In Retrospect,
These Immortal Souls,
Monolake,
Sex Pistols,
The Detroit Cobras,
Subhumans,
The Associates,
Lakeside,
L. Decosne,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Cymande,
Charles Mingus,
The Barracudas,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Visage,
Lalo Schifrin,
Throbbing Gristle, Throbbing Gristle, Throbbing Gristle, Throbbing Gristle.
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.