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 Ukraine and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1963 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Mexico City.
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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Cymande to the techno 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 Donny Hathaway. All the underground hits.
All Desert Stars tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sonny Sharrock record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 linndrum and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bobby Byrd record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Chris Corsano,
World's Most,
Glenn Branca,
The Dave Clark Five,
Flash Fearless,
Jeru the Damaja,
Lebanon Hanover,
Eden Ahbez,
K-Klass,
Henry Cow,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Sly & The Family Stone,
ABC,
the Sonics,
Wire,
the Human League,
Moss Icon,
Mark Hollis,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Maleditus Sound,
Excepter,
Mary Jane Girls,
Junior Murvin,
The Cure,
the Bar-Kays,
Bobby Byrd,
David Axelrod,
Wolf Eyes,
The Selecter,
E-Dancer,
Joensuu 1685,
Arab on Radar,
the Normal,
Yellowson,
Iggy Pop,
Ice-T,
The Vogues,
Todd Rundgren,
Shuggie Otis,
The Trojans,
Barrington Levy,
The Beau Brummels,
Harpers Bizarre,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Skatalites,
Erykah Badu,
Intrusion,
Circle Jerks,
The Gap Band,
Country Teasers,
Surgeon,
The Saints,
Sarah Menescal,
Television,
Kevin Saunderson, Kevin Saunderson, Kevin Saunderson, Kevin Saunderson.
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.