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 Dominican Republic and from Houston.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Stockholm.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Idris Muhammad to the techno kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 CMW. All the underground hits.
All Terry Callier tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sly & The Family Stone record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Motions record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Eric Copeland,
Alton Ellis,
Yaz,
Arcadia,
Stockholm Monsters,
Ken Boothe,
Kool Moe Dee,
Half Japanese,
Wally Richardson,
the Sonics,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Khruangbin,
Agitation Free,
Gang Gang Dance,
Procol Harum,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Deakin,
Gang of Four,
The Cowsills,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Bobby Womack,
Unrelated Segments,
Chris & Cosey,
Mission of Burma,
Faust,
Throbbing Gristle,
The Remains,
The Electric Prunes,
The Grass Roots,
Minny Pops,
Niagra,
Moss Icon,
Patti Smith,
Schoolly D,
Al Stewart,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Shoche,
Groovy Waters,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Arab on Radar,
Sight & Sound,
Joe Finger,
The Fugs,
Alice Coltrane,
Faraquet,
L. Decosne,
Rites of Spring,
Jacques Brel,
Little Man,
Roy Ayers,
the Fania All-Stars,
Dave Gahan,
Crime,
The Happenings,
Deadbeat,
Archie Shepp,
Dark Day,
The Trojans, The Trojans, The Trojans, The Trojans.
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.