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 Chad and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1987.
I was there at the first Nirvana show in Seattle.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Bremen.
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 clarinet 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 The Saints to the funk kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Black Bananas. All the underground hits.
All Das Ding tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Terror Squad Feat. Camron record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Sound record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
a-ha,
June of 44,
Anakelly,
Suburban Knight,
Half Japanese,
Big Daddy Kane,
The Smoke,
Isaac Hayes,
Pierre Henry,
Albert Ayler,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Yusef Lateef,
Letta Mbulu,
U.S. Maple,
The Zeros,
Simply Red,
Basic Channel,
Scientists,
Barclay James Harvest,
CMW,
The Move,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Leonard Cohen,
Eve St. Jones,
Country Teasers,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Marine Girls,
Unrelated Segments,
The Walker Brothers,
Gang Green,
Echospace,
Supertramp,
The Electric Prunes,
DJ Sneak,
Electric Light Orchestra,
the Normal,
The Neon Judgement,
E-Dancer,
Yellowson,
the Sonics,
Eric Dolphy,
The Count Five,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Skaos,
PIL,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Minnie Riperton,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Ultra Naté,
Boogie Down Productions,
Alton Ellis,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Brand Nubian,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Mad Mike,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Derrick May,
Infiniti,
Duran Duran, Duran Duran, Duran Duran, Duran Duran.
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.