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 Lebanon and from Madrid.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Suicide to the rap 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 Cecil Taylor. All the underground hits.
All Scratch Acid tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Altered Images record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Little Man,
Junior Murvin,
Zapp,
DNA,
Rekid,
Radiohead,
Pussy Galore,
Gregory Isaacs,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Liliput,
The Black Dice,
Intrusion,
Gabor Szabo,
Mantronix,
Lower 48,
Todd Terry,
Minor Threat,
The Fortunes,
Sight & Sound,
Bluetip,
Sandy B,
D'Angelo,
The Skatalites,
The Martian,
The Motions,
Funky Four + One,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Reagan Youth,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Sister Nancy,
X-Ray Spex,
The Electric Prunes,
Derrick May,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Quadrant,
Lucky Dragons,
Alphaville,
Pole,
Masters at Work,
Barbara Tucker,
Guru Guru,
Scott Walker,
The Fall,
John Coltrane,
Albert Ayler,
Frankie Knuckles,
The Selecter,
The Angels of Light,
Steve Hackett,
Gang of Four,
Fad Gadget,
Hardrive,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Man Eating Sloth,
Radio Birdman,
Danielle Patucci,
Thee Headcoats,
The Toasters,
Ultravox,
The Saints,
Glenn Branca,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
B.T. Express,
Slave, Slave, Slave, Slave.
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.