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 Honduras and from Lagos.
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 1968 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Bologna.
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 1976 at the first Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Ultra Naté to the jazz 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 Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu. All the underground hits.
All Black Moon tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Camberwell Now record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Thee Headcoats record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dorothy Ashby,
Wally Richardson,
Nick Fraelich,
Vainqueur,
Lou Reed,
The Fall,
Khruangbin,
Shoche,
Electric Prunes,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Monolake,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Newcleus,
In Retrospect,
This Heat,
June Days,
Livin' Joy,
The Seeds,
Ultra Naté,
Pole,
Nils Olav,
Kerrie Biddell,
Visage,
Ultimate Spinach,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Echospace,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Public Image Ltd.,
8 Eyed Spy,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
L. Decosne,
Donny Hathaway,
Deadbeat,
Henry Cow,
Bizarre Inc.,
Yaz,
CMW,
Jacob Miller,
Joey Negro,
Mad Mike,
Ossler,
Grauzone,
Man Eating Sloth,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Q and Not U,
The Slits,
Camouflage,
Clear Light,
OOIOO,
Zapp,
Terry Callier,
The Music Machine,
Pulsallama,
Wings,
LL Cool J,
Kayak,
The Wake,
Tropical Tobacco,
Arcadia,
New Age Steppers,
Gil Scott Heron, Gil Scott Heron, Gil Scott Heron, Gil Scott Heron.
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.