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 Dominica and from Copenhagen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1961 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the linndrum 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 Pantaleimon to the crunk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Saints. All the underground hits.
All The Blackbyrds tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Aswad record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ralphi Rosario,
The Mummies,
Scan 7,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Vogues,
Sound Behaviour,
Kerri Chandler,
Minny Pops,
New York Dolls,
Pierre Henry,
The Cowsills,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Lindisfarne,
Robert Görl,
Matthew Halsall,
Joy Division,
Au Pairs,
The Dave Clark Five,
Faraquet,
Boredoms,
Silicon Teens,
Hot Snakes,
The Velvet Underground,
Hoover,
Bizarre Inc.,
Second Layer,
Nirvana,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Durutti Column,
Aswad,
Fugazi,
The Names,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Gichy Dan,
Television,
Frankie Knuckles,
Roxette,
Lou Christie,
DJ Sneak,
Morten Harket,
Jandek,
The Shadows of Knight,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Essential Logic,
Clear Light,
Gastr Del Sol,
The Music Machine,
Gang of Four,
Ultra Naté,
Black Pus,
Soft Cell,
Rod Modell,
OOIOO,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Jesper Dahlback,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Junior Murvin,
Mandrill,
Cymande,
The Residents,
Faust,
the Fania All-Stars,
Black Sheep,
The Gladiators, The Gladiators, The Gladiators, The Gladiators.
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.