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 Ivory Coast and from Delhi.
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 1966 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 Nile Rodgers 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 Spoonie Gee to the electroclash 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 Louis and Bebe Barron. All the underground hits.
All Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Funkadelic 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 spring reverb and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a AZ record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rosa Yemen,
The Doors,
The Star Department,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Barclay James Harvest,
Average White Band,
Rekid,
Youth Brigade,
E-Dancer,
James White and The Blacks,
Brass Construction,
La Düsseldorf,
The Move,
Zapp,
Aural Exciters,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Searchers,
CMW,
Liliput,
Fat Boys,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Black Bananas,
Mars,
June Days,
The Alarm Clocks,
Circle Jerks,
Dawn Penn,
The Grass Roots,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Pantytec,
cv313,
Marshall Jefferson,
Duran Duran,
Man Parrish,
Franke,
Aswad,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Nico,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Beasts of Bourbon,
The Names,
One Last Wish,
Ten City,
Althea and Donna,
JFA,
The Gap Band,
Panda Bear,
Blancmange,
Desert Stars,
Sun Ra,
Neil Young,
ABBA,
Malaria!,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Ronnie Foster,
Traffic Nightmare,
Ultravox,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Babytalk,
Stockholm Monsters,
Lou Christie,
Banda Bassotti, Banda Bassotti, Banda Bassotti, Banda Bassotti.
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.