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 China and from Cairo.
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 1961 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and London.
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 1968 at the first Can practice in a loft in Cologne.
I was working on the güiro 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 Sun Ra Arkestra to the funk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Drexciya. All the underground hits.
All Swell Maps tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Television record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mr. Review record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Gun Club,
Eric Dolphy,
Fort Wilson Riot,
The Dead C,
Albert Ayler,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
DJ Style,
Lee Hazlewood,
Vainqueur,
Massinfluence,
Sällskapet,
Black Pus,
JFA,
The Star Department,
A Certain Ratio,
The Cure,
Au Pairs,
Marvin Gaye,
Idris Muhammad,
Vladislav Delay,
Max Romeo,
Jandek,
Symarip,
EPMD,
Curtis Mayfield,
Neu!,
Fugazi,
The Shadows of Knight,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Sound Behaviour,
Dennis Brown,
Andrew Hill,
Flash Fearless,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
the Association,
The Grass Roots,
Panda Bear,
World's Most,
Pylon,
Hashim,
Aural Exciters,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Adolescents,
Alton Ellis,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
New Age Steppers,
Erykah Badu,
John Foxx,
Lungfish,
The Fire Engines,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Gerry Rafferty,
8 Eyed Spy,
The Slackers,
Quadrant,
Tres Demented,
Robert Görl,
Shuggie Otis,
Jesper Dahlback,
Organ,
OOIOO, OOIOO, OOIOO, OOIOO.
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.