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 St Lucia and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1969 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Halifax 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 808 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 Rhythm & Sound to the jazz 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 Bobby Byrd. All the underground hits.
All Brothers Johnson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Smiths record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Amon Düül record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Evens,
La Düsseldorf,
Ronnie Foster,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Little Man,
Marshall Jefferson,
One Last Wish,
Soft Machine,
Dual Sessions,
The Sonics,
Vladislav Delay,
Cheater Slicks,
the Bar-Kays,
Gang Gang Dance,
X-101,
Black Bananas,
MDC,
Gong,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Hasil Adkins,
Dave Gahan,
Brothers Johnson,
Slave,
Scratch Acid,
The Detroit Cobras,
The Motions,
Dorothy Ashby,
Skaos,
Hashim,
Gichy Dan,
Franke,
The Invisible,
Underground Resistance,
Siglo XX,
Grandmaster Flash,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Associates,
Mission of Burma,
Rites of Spring,
Infiniti,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Amazonics,
Ultimate Spinach,
Marc Almond,
Youth Brigade,
John Lydon,
Colin Newman,
Supertramp,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
New Age Steppers,
Unrelated Segments,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Eddi Front,
Zapp,
The Names,
Derrick Morgan,
Babytalk,
Eric B and Rakim,
Janne Schatter,
Tubeway Army,
The Young Rascals,
Archie Shepp,
Lou Christie,
Adolescents, Adolescents, Adolescents, Adolescents.
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.