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 Barbados and from Madrid.
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 1968 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the rhodes 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 The Last Poets to the rap kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish. All the underground hits.
All FM Einheit tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Sound record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Newcleus record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Model 500,
Agent Orange,
Eric B and Rakim,
Donald Byrd,
Pussy Galore,
Lungfish,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Trumans Water,
James White and The Blacks,
Young Marble Giants,
Rod Modell,
Bootsy Collins,
Boogie Down Productions,
Subhumans,
the Germs,
kango's stein massive,
Quantec,
The Music Machine,
UT,
Barrington Levy,
Drexciya,
ABC,
One Last Wish,
X-101,
Prince Buster,
Deepchord,
The Gap Band,
Cal Tjader,
Delon & Dalcan,
Deadbeat,
Organ,
Sonny Sharrock,
Dennis Brown,
Marc Almond,
The Durutti Column,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Lindisfarne,
Man Eating Sloth,
Neil Young,
Rekid,
Brick,
Flipper,
Hoover,
The Index,
Reuben Wilson,
Graham Central Station,
Bobby Byrd,
Tomorrow,
Lower 48,
Barbara Tucker,
OOIOO,
Robert Görl,
Wire,
The Walker Brothers,
Grauzone,
The Gories,
KRS-One,
Mars,
Easy Going,
The Grass Roots,
Godley & Creme,
Gang of Four,
Ajijia Myrayebe, Ajijia Myrayebe, Ajijia Myrayebe, Ajijia Myrayebe.
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.