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 Solomon Islands and from Milan.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1960 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 snare 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 Fear to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Grauzone. All the underground hits.
All Groovy Waters tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Siglo XX record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 chamberlin and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Blackbyrds record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lyres,
Clear Light,
Cybotron,
Model 500,
UT,
Todd Rundgren,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Interpol,
Archie Shepp,
Crash Course in Science,
The Angels of Light,
The Moleskins,
The Smoke,
The Doors,
This Heat,
the Soft Cell,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Saccharine Trust,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Janne Schatter,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Japan,
Sugar Minott,
Sparks,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Toasters,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Skarface,
Lalann,
Bush Tetras,
Joyce Sims,
Byron Stingily,
Popol Vuh,
Blossom Toes,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Severed Heads,
Boz Scaggs,
Dawn Penn,
Sonny Sharrock,
Donny Hathaway,
Marshall Jefferson,
Audionom,
The Misunderstood,
Eric B and Rakim,
Public Enemy,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Vainqueur,
Aaron Thompson,
The Shadows of Knight,
Cymande,
10cc,
Quadrant,
Chris & Cosey,
Soft Cell,
Joey Negro,
Eurythmics,
Television,
David McCallum,
Cecil Taylor,
Stereo Dub,
Blancmange, Blancmange, Blancmange, Blancmange.
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.