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 Guinea-Bissau and from Lille.
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 1969 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1971 at the first Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Sisters of Mercy to the grunge 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 Alton Ellis. All the underground hits.
All Camberwell Now tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Chrome 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Eric B and Rakim record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kool Moe Dee,
Quantec,
Soul Sonic Force,
Jimmy McGriff,
Letta Mbulu,
Excepter,
X-102,
Nas,
Peter & Gordon,
X-Ray Spex,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Agent Orange,
Inner City,
Wally Richardson,
Basic Channel,
Amazonics,
Cheater Slicks,
Joe Smooth,
Smog,
Outsiders,
Q and Not U,
Can,
a-ha,
Babytalk,
Groovy Waters,
Delta 5,
Crispian St. Peters,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Martian,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Skriet,
Kevin Saunderson,
Peter and Kerry,
Jacob Miller,
The Cramps,
Howard Jones,
Traffic Nightmare,
Erykah Badu,
The Young Rascals,
Banda Bassotti,
Soft Machine,
Black Flag,
F. McDonald,
Jesper Dahlback,
Bill Near,
Wasted Youth,
Cecil Taylor,
The Misunderstood,
The Gap Band,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Q65,
Moby Grape,
Marshall Jefferson,
Gang of Four,
The Offenders,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Funky Four + One,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Von Mondo,
Ten City,
Model 500,
Tomorrow,
The Associates, The Associates, The Associates, The Associates.
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.