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 Korea North and from Lille.
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 1968 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Au Pairs to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Johnny Clarke. All the underground hits.
All The Walker Brothers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every DJ Sneak 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rhythm & Sound record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gichy Dan,
Nick Fraelich,
John Holt,
The Invisible,
Derrick Morgan,
Michelle Simonal,
Donald Byrd,
Anthony Braxton,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Maurizio,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Slave,
DJ Sneak,
Jeff Lynne,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Guru Guru,
Eve St. Jones,
Interpol,
Kurtis Blow,
Rosa Yemen,
Ludus,
the Human League,
Ronan,
Arthur Verocai,
Rufus Thomas,
Deadbeat,
Jimmy McGriff,
Reagan Youth,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Boredoms,
Yellowson,
Kaleidoscope,
Big Daddy Kane,
Stiv Bators,
Robert Wyatt,
the Association,
Barbara Tucker,
Dorothy Ashby,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Delta 5,
Drexciya,
Pere Ubu,
Popol Vuh,
James White and The Blacks,
Black Sheep,
Byron Stingily,
Technova,
Dark Day,
Traffic Nightmare,
Clear Light,
Symarip,
Ituana,
Dual Sessions,
Spoonie Gee,
Agitation Free,
The Birthday Party,
Man Eating Sloth,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Peter & Gordon,
The Mummies, The Mummies, The Mummies, The Mummies.
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.