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 Montenegro and from Jakarta.
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 1963 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Calgary.
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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
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 Man Eating Sloth to the funk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Delon & Dalcan. All the underground hits.
All The Skatalites tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Monochrome Set record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 an organ and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Soul Sonic Force record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Idris Muhammad,
the Bar-Kays,
Tommy Roe,
X-102,
Pere Ubu,
Cymande,
The Blues Magoos,
John Coltrane,
Minutemen,
Deepchord,
Basic Channel,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Dorothy Ashby,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
B.T. Express,
Heaven 17,
Popol Vuh,
L. Decosne,
Blake Baxter,
Flipper,
Darondo,
Colin Newman,
Shoche,
Kevin Saunderson,
Skarface,
Jacob Miller,
The Fire Engines,
The Techniques,
Sam Rivers,
Guru Guru,
Tom Boy,
Todd Rundgren,
The Dead C,
Lakeside,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Massinfluence,
Visage,
Negative Approach,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Lee Hazlewood,
Pole,
Khruangbin,
Liliput,
Theoretical Girls,
The Shadows of Knight,
Fatback Band,
Pagans,
John Foxx,
Tres Demented,
Mars,
Bootsy Collins,
Scientists,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Cal Tjader,
the Association,
The Moody Blues,
The Alarm Clocks,
Schoolly D,
Magazine, Magazine, Magazine, Magazine.
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.