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 Ivory Coast and from Tehran.
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 1965 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Bush Tetras to the punk 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 Mantronix. All the underground hits.
All Rod Modell tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Black Dice record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 rhodes and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Chrome record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fatback Band,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Siglo XX,
Spandau Ballet,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Roy Ayers,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
The Gladiators,
T. Rex,
T.S.O.L.,
U.S. Maple,
Alton Ellis,
Bill Wells,
Nation of Ulysses,
the Soft Cell,
The Slackers,
Radio Birdman,
Gang Green,
Michelle Simonal,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Grandmaster Flash,
Theoretical Girls,
The Young Rascals,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Smog,
The Dirtbombs,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Thompson Twins,
Rites of Spring,
Inner City,
48th St. Collective,
The Neon Judgement,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Alarm Clocks,
Technova,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
kango's stein massive,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Five Americans,
Depeche Mode,
Kerri Chandler,
Fugazi,
Yusef Lateef,
The Smiths,
Slave,
Anakelly,
Lindisfarne,
Gil Scott Heron,
This Heat,
Pierre Henry,
Angry Samoans,
The Mojo Men,
Boogie Down Productions,
Absolute Body Control,
Section 25,
The American Breed,
Joe Smooth,
Susan Cadogan,
Oneida,
Joensuu 1685,
Erasure,
Stiv Bators, Stiv Bators, Stiv Bators, Stiv Bators.
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.