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 Sierra Leone and from Shanghai.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 marimba 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 Ralphi Rosario to the grime 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 Sonic Youth. All the underground hits.
All Mark Hollis tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Godley & Creme record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lou Christie record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Aloha Tigers,
Make Up,
Eddi Front,
Infiniti,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Mary Jane Girls,
Ultra Naté,
Jacob Miller,
Flamin' Groovies,
Idris Muhammad,
Faust,
Tim Buckley,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Gichy Dan,
Pole,
ABBA,
Juan Atkins,
Niagra,
T.S.O.L.,
DNA,
Delon & Dalcan,
The Victims,
Sonny Sharrock,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Eric B and Rakim,
Roy Ayers,
E-Dancer,
Can,
Throbbing Gristle,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Carl Craig,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Johnny Osbourne,
Todd Terry,
The Techniques,
Franke,
Main Source,
Average White Band,
Wire,
Neu!,
The Star Department,
Andrew Hill,
Suburban Knight,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Swans,
The Divine Comedy,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Isaac Hayes,
The Music Machine,
Charles Mingus,
Boz Scaggs,
Monks,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Morten Harket,
Lee Hazlewood,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Soft Cell,
Interpol,
Alphaville,
The Sonics,
Gastr Del Sol,
Grauzone,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Trumans Water, Trumans Water, Trumans Water, Trumans Water.
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.