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 Singapore and from Manila.
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 1962 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 Althea and Donna to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 The Modern Lovers. All the underground hits.
All Bobby Womack tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Offenders 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 '50s 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 Man Parrish record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Idris Muhammad,
Quando Quango,
Barry Ungar,
Lyres,
The Gories,
Morten Harket,
Jacob Miller,
Porter Ricks,
Public Image Ltd.,
Brand Nubian,
The Moody Blues,
Rhythm & Sound,
Minnie Riperton,
Barrington Levy,
Brick,
The Remains,
Roxy Music,
Neil Young,
Pantytec,
Funky Four + One,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Rekid,
Depeche Mode,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Freddie Wadling,
Danielle Patucci,
Moby Grape,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Ponytail,
DJ Style,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Soft Machine,
Fear,
A Certain Ratio,
John Lydon,
World's Most,
Brothers Johnson,
Sexual Harrassment,
Marmalade,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Kurtis Blow,
Youth Brigade,
Country Teasers,
Susan Cadogan,
Mandrill,
Fluxion,
Lalann,
Agitation Free,
The Doobie Brothers,
Stockholm Monsters,
Nirvana,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Cheater Slicks,
Sun City Girls,
Rites of Spring,
The Real Kids,
The Detroit Cobras,
Harry Pussy,
Isaac Hayes,
Minor Threat, Minor Threat, Minor Threat, Minor Threat.
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.