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 Georgia and from Edmonton.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1978 at the first Visage practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Althea and Donna 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 Simply Red. All the underground hits.
All Panda Bear tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Last Poets record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Spoonie Gee record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Laurel Aitken,
DJ Style,
Dual Sessions,
CMW,
Johnny Osbourne,
Brand Nubian,
Eddi Front,
Chris Corsano,
Peter and Kerry,
Rufus Thomas,
Sexual Harrassment,
Visage,
Television Personalities,
The Skatalites,
the Soft Cell,
Alison Limerick,
Ice-T,
Eyeless In Gaza,
D'Angelo,
Mark Hollis,
Pere Ubu,
Max Romeo,
Panda Bear,
The Misunderstood,
Grandmaster Flash,
Porter Ricks,
Flamin' Groovies,
The Invisible,
Cymande,
Royal Trux,
Fat Boys,
Rites of Spring,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Alarm Clocks,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Scientists,
Television,
the Fania All-Stars,
L. Decosne,
Vainqueur,
Au Pairs,
Aswad,
Aloha Tigers,
Kurtis Blow,
Delon & Dalcan,
Soul II Soul,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
the Bar-Kays,
Surgeon,
Sandy B,
Bush Tetras,
The Fall,
Ohio Players,
Crooked Eye,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Gil Scott Heron,
Barclay James Harvest,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
The Litter,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
The Monochrome Set, The Monochrome Set, The Monochrome Set, The Monochrome Set.
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.