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 Jordan and from Seoul.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 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 The Angels of Light to the grime 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 Pulsallama tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Camouflage 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Eric Copeland record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dorothy Ashby,
a-ha,
The Kinks,
Thee Headcoats,
Iggy Pop,
Dennis Brown,
Josef K,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
The Moody Blues,
Maleditus Sound,
Donald Byrd,
Frankie Knuckles,
Bootsy Collins,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
E-Dancer,
The Remains,
Ultra Naté,
Talk Talk,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Kenny Larkin,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Jeru the Damaja,
Bill Wells,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Lebanon Hanover,
Toni Rubio,
Ponytail,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Babytalk,
The Tremeloes,
The Red Krayola,
Minutemen,
OOIOO,
Marc Almond,
June Days,
Brothers Johnson,
Glenn Branca,
Chris & Cosey,
Rosa Yemen,
Joe Finger,
Man Parrish,
B.T. Express,
Godley & Creme,
Roxette,
The Vogues,
Oblivians,
Piero Umiliani,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
F. McDonald,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Big Daddy Kane,
Quadrant,
Eli Mardock,
Joey Negro,
Section 25,
Patti Smith,
Joy Division,
Scion,
Buzzcocks,
Television,
Banda Bassotti, Banda Bassotti, Banda Bassotti, Banda Bassotti.
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.