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 Georgia and from Accra.
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 1969 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 arpeggiator 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 Shoche to the disco 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 Harpers Bizarre. All the underground hits.
All The Skatalites tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Schoolly D record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 snare and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Grey Daturas record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Joey Negro,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Marmalade,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Zero Boys,
Lou Reed,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Move,
Sugar Minott,
Delta 5,
Drexciya,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Tropical Tobacco,
The Fortunes,
Scott Walker,
Wally Richardson,
The Mojo Men,
James White and The Blacks,
The Slackers,
The Divine Comedy,
Swell Maps,
Oneida,
The Happenings,
Moebius,
The Red Krayola,
Eric B and Rakim,
Gerry Rafferty,
The Shadows of Knight,
Aloha Tigers,
Carl Craig,
The Buckinghams,
Grauzone,
DNA,
Leonard Cohen,
Ultravox,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
kango's stein massive,
The Busters,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Eli Mardock,
Cal Tjader,
Loose Ends,
Scratch Acid,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Rakim,
Chris & Cosey,
Brothers Johnson,
Marshall Jefferson,
Goldenarms,
The Monochrome Set,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Amazonics,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Gregory Isaacs,
Matthew Halsall,
OOIOO,
MC5,
The Sound,
DJ Style,
EPMD,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Bluetip,
Mission of Burma, Mission of Burma, Mission of Burma, Mission of Burma.
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.