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 Guinea and from Tehran.
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 1962 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1971 at the first Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Bush Tetras to the rock kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Gregory Isaacs. All the underground hits.
All Big Daddy Kane tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jeff Mills record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 a clarinet and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Warren Ellis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Youth Brigade,
Absolute Body Control,
Scratch Acid,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Soulsonic Force,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Rekid,
DJ Style,
The Grass Roots,
Godley & Creme,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Fire Engines,
The Barracudas,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Mojo Men,
Reuben Wilson,
Robert Görl,
Simply Red,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Joensuu 1685,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
8 Eyed Spy,
Flash Fearless,
Accadde A,
Arthur Verocai,
Public Image Ltd.,
Girls At Our Best!,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Last Poets,
Marvin Gaye,
Little Man,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Stereo Dub,
Sex Pistols,
Can,
Bootsy Collins,
Ponytail,
Scientists,
Erasure,
Laurel Aitken,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Pierre Henry,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Quantec,
Average White Band,
Marine Girls,
MC5,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Hoover,
Gang Green,
Swans,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Black Flag,
Minutemen,
Metal Thangz,
Eric Dolphy,
Robert Wyatt,
Index,
the Human League,
Kurtis Blow,
Soul II Soul, Soul II Soul, Soul II Soul, Soul II Soul.
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.