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 Cyprus and from Manchester.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1977 at the first Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Lou Reed to the rock kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 The Human League. All the underground hits.
All Con Funk Shun tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every the Association 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Derrick May record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Harpers Bizarre,
Ronnie Foster,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Grass Roots,
Aural Exciters,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Henry Cow,
Kurtis Blow,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Eden Ahbez,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
One Last Wish,
Wasted Youth,
Jeru the Damaja,
The Fire Engines,
Black Flag,
Skriet,
Lightning Bolt,
The Remains,
the Bar-Kays,
Lindisfarne,
U.S. Maple,
Soul II Soul,
T. Rex,
Nik Kershaw,
Camouflage,
Lucky Dragons,
Tom Boy,
Laurel Aitken,
Rosa Yemen,
Jeff Mills,
Charles Mingus,
Desert Stars,
Andrew Hill,
Juan Atkins,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
the Germs,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Dead C,
PIL,
Reuben Wilson,
Nico,
Stockholm Monsters,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Traffic Nightmare,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
A Certain Ratio,
B.T. Express,
Masters at Work,
Grey Daturas,
Sound Behaviour,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
June of 44,
Archie Shepp,
E-Dancer,
Slave,
UT,
The Doobie Brothers,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Erykah Badu, Erykah Badu, Erykah Badu, Erykah Badu.
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.