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 Cuba and from Mumbai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 rhodes 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 Bush Tetras to the techno 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 Absolute Body Control. All the underground hits.
All Gang of Four tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Suicide record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Johnny Clarke record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Michelle Simonal,
Al Stewart,
James White and The Blacks,
Andrew Hill,
Gastr Del Sol,
Vainqueur,
The Residents,
Prince Buster,
LL Cool J,
Tears for Fears,
Dark Day,
The Alarm Clocks,
Brothers Johnson,
Piero Umiliani,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Eddi Front,
The Birthday Party,
Jacques Brel,
Sparks,
Darondo,
Henry Cow,
Jawbox,
Agent Orange,
Jandek,
Alice Coltrane,
The Remains,
the Soft Cell,
Rufus Thomas,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Radiopuhelimet,
Jeru the Damaja,
Lyres,
Electric Prunes,
Archie Shepp,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Minnie Riperton,
The Flesh Eaters,
Spoonie Gee,
Buzzcocks,
Cecil Taylor,
Suicide,
Charles Mingus,
Sight & Sound,
Nation of Ulysses,
New Age Steppers,
Wings,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Public Enemy,
Blancmange,
The Litter,
Todd Terry,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Lindisfarne,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Drexciya,
Reuben Wilson,
Public Image Ltd.,
This Heat,
Sun City Girls,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Aswad,
Marvin Gaye, Marvin Gaye, Marvin Gaye, Marvin Gaye.
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.