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 Malawi and from Mumbai.
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 1960 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 linndrum 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 Marcia Griffiths to the grunge kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Public Image Ltd.. All the underground hits.
All Pierre Henry tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Marvin Gaye record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Brand Nubian record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Wally Richardson,
Pulsallama,
Monks,
Ultravox,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Circle Jerks,
Au Pairs,
Barbara Tucker,
Swell Maps,
Gregory Isaacs,
Essential Logic,
Nation of Ulysses,
Wings,
The Flesh Eaters,
Easy Going,
Television Personalities,
Tom Boy,
Duran Duran,
Michelle Simonal,
Albert Ayler,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Gang of Four,
Accadde A,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Althea and Donna,
Magma,
Drive Like Jehu,
the Human League,
Soulsonic Force,
Erykah Badu,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
The Happenings,
Cybotron,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Technova,
Qualms,
Dennis Brown,
Stereo Dub,
Scientists,
Parry Music,
Minny Pops,
DJ Sneak,
Saccharine Trust,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Sarah Menescal,
Vainqueur,
Hashim,
Public Image Ltd.,
Bootsy Collins,
The Standells,
Sixth Finger,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Gastr Del Sol,
the Swans,
Joyce Sims,
AZ,
Jacob Miller,
New Order,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Crime,
Suicide,
Jeru the Damaja, Jeru the Damaja, Jeru the Damaja, Jeru the Damaja.
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.