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 St Kitts & Nevis and from Madrid.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 oboe 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 Babytalk to the punk 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 The Invisible. All the underground hits.
All Nirvana tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Moby Grape 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Procol Harum record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bobby Womack,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Vogues,
Nick Fraelich,
Funky Four + One,
Fatback Band,
The Doobie Brothers,
Chrome,
The Slits,
Jimmy McGriff,
Delta 5,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The Doors,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Slackers,
Roxy Music,
Alphaville,
Model 500,
Nas,
Negative Approach,
The Electric Prunes,
Moby Grape,
Michelle Simonal,
Altered Images,
Nik Kershaw,
Isaac Hayes,
Pantaleimon,
Scratch Acid,
Visage,
The Five Americans,
Aaron Thompson,
Mo-Dettes,
Letta Mbulu,
Section 25,
Reagan Youth,
Jeff Mills,
The Modern Lovers,
Pole,
Todd Terry,
Stereo Dub,
Judy Mowatt,
Metal Thangz,
Sandy B,
Depeche Mode,
Max Romeo,
Johnny Clarke,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Misunderstood,
Eden Ahbez,
Lindisfarne,
The Grass Roots,
Jandek,
Q65,
John Holt,
CMW,
Ponytail,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
The Gories,
Byron Stingily,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Cecil Taylor,
Underground Resistance,
Shoche, Shoche, Shoche, Shoche.
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.