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 Mozambique and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1961 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 güiro 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 LL Cool J to the techno kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 John Coltrane. All the underground hits.
All Cabaret Voltaire 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 rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an organ and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Barclay James Harvest record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Man Parrish,
E-Dancer,
Crime,
The Count Five,
Cluster,
Warren Ellis,
Nico,
Mission of Burma,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
The Smoke,
Bad Manners,
Andrew Hill,
Soulsonic Force,
Kurtis Blow,
The Doobie Brothers,
Duran Duran,
The New Christs,
Sex Pistols,
Yellowson,
ABBA,
Rod Modell,
Tom Boy,
Anthony Braxton,
Organ,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
the Normal,
The American Breed,
The Monks,
Parry Music,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Wire,
Bronski Beat,
Silicon Teens,
Marine Girls,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Amon Düül II,
Frankie Knuckles,
June Days,
Fear,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Rites of Spring,
Nik Kershaw,
Gregory Isaacs,
June of 44,
Terry Callier,
The Kinks,
Gang of Four,
Section 25,
Colin Newman,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Sun City Girls,
Schoolly D,
Brand Nubian,
Minny Pops,
Slave,
Reuben Wilson,
Sexual Harrassment,
Zero Boys,
Nick Fraelich, Nick Fraelich, Nick Fraelich, Nick Fraelich.
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.