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 Nigeria and from Tokyo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1967 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Sam Rivers to the grime kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 The Dave Clark Five. All the underground hits.
All Funkadelic tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Quadrant 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Eden Ahbez record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Soft Machine,
Peter & Gordon,
The Grass Roots,
the Swans,
Delta 5,
Iggy Pop,
Hashim,
Sun Ra,
8 Eyed Spy,
Curtis Mayfield,
Slave,
New York Dolls,
Barclay James Harvest,
Reagan Youth,
Pharoah Sanders,
Khruangbin,
Aural Exciters,
Pere Ubu,
David McCallum,
Patti Smith,
The Raincoats,
Maurizio,
Popol Vuh,
Big Daddy Kane,
Bootsy Collins,
Donald Byrd,
Soul II Soul,
Jimmy McGriff,
The Sound,
Sex Pistols,
One Last Wish,
Depeche Mode,
Maleditus Sound,
Chris & Cosey,
The Moleskins,
Excepter,
Quantec,
The Electric Prunes,
Soul Sonic Force,
Goldenarms,
The Five Americans,
Jeru the Damaja,
Barrington Levy,
ABC,
Ralphi Rosario,
Jacques Brel,
Deakin,
Das Ding,
Jandek,
The Birthday Party,
Fad Gadget,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Livin' Joy,
Eurythmics,
Crash Course in Science,
Nas,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
The Trojans,
Shoche,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Hardrive,
Camouflage, Camouflage, Camouflage, Camouflage.
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.