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 Niger and from Calgary.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Marshall Jefferson to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Ash Ra Tempel. All the underground hits.
All Slick Rick 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Soul II Soul record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dennis Brown,
Cecil Taylor,
Joe Finger,
Nick Fraelich,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Goldenarms,
ABBA,
Susan Cadogan,
Moebius,
The Moody Blues,
Funkadelic,
Monks,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Jimmy McGriff,
Quadrant,
Monolake,
The Raincoats,
David McCallum,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Swell Maps,
Lindisfarne,
The Cramps,
Lower 48,
The Standells,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
OOIOO,
Massinfluence,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Marine Girls,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Can,
Harry Pussy,
Roy Ayers,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Ralphi Rosario,
Freddie Wadling,
Al Stewart,
MC5,
Marshall Jefferson,
Flash Fearless,
Kevin Saunderson,
Fad Gadget,
Essential Logic,
China Crisis,
Sonny Sharrock,
Delta 5,
Franke,
Traffic Nightmare,
Jeff Mills,
DJ Style,
Half Japanese,
Sight & Sound,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Camberwell Now,
The Modern Lovers,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Sound Behaviour,
Terrestrial Tones,
Dave Gahan,
Alice Coltrane,
The Searchers, The Searchers, The Searchers, The Searchers.
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.