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 El Salvador and from Taipei.
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 1963 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Rotary Connection to the techno kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Nils Olav. All the underground hits.
All Sugar Minott tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Roy Ayers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 rhodes and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Peter and Kerry record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gil Scott Heron,
Livin' Joy,
Archie Shepp,
Crooked Eye,
Average White Band,
Ultravox,
Excepter,
Basic Channel,
New Age Steppers,
The Searchers,
Niagra,
Brothers Johnson,
Brick,
Cymande,
John Cale,
Marine Girls,
Johnny Clarke,
Robert Görl,
The Five Americans,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Grauzone,
Magazine,
Tubeway Army,
Lungfish,
Wings,
David McCallum,
Reagan Youth,
The Sound,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Roger Hodgson,
Mary Jane Girls,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Standells,
Quadrant,
Quando Quango,
Infiniti,
Ice-T,
Godley & Creme,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Dead Boys,
Jerry Gold Smith,
The Residents,
R.M.O.,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Gichy Dan,
Tim Buckley,
Zero Boys,
Arcadia,
The Busters,
Idris Muhammad,
Little Man,
Faust,
Kerri Chandler,
Animal Collective,
Jeff Lynne,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Knickerbockers,
Moebius,
Black Sheep,
Section 25, Section 25, Section 25, Section 25.
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.