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 Swaziland and from Spokane.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1964 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 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 Isaac Hayes to the grime kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Public Image Ltd.. All the underground hits.
All Kurtis Blow tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Shadows of Knight 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gong record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Silicon Teens,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Warren Ellis,
Sound Behaviour,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Vogues,
Gichy Dan,
Letta Mbulu,
Angry Samoans,
Sällskapet,
Circle Jerks,
the Bar-Kays,
MDC,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Adolescents,
James White and The Blacks,
The Shadows of Knight,
Rod Modell,
The Moleskins,
Ornette Coleman,
Saccharine Trust,
Japan,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Crispian St. Peters,
Barrington Levy,
The Slits,
The Velvet Underground,
Skaos,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Drexciya,
The Doobie Brothers,
Absolute Body Control,
Ultra Naté,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Ralphi Rosario,
Brothers Johnson,
X-101,
Suicide,
The Fortunes,
Joe Finger,
The Durutti Column,
The Searchers,
Young Marble Giants,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Jerry Gold Smith,
The Gladiators,
Spandau Ballet,
Aswad,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Toasters,
Byron Stingily,
Ohio Players,
The Last Poets,
Malaria!,
Don Cherry,
The Star Department,
Soft Cell,
Bootsy Collins,
Unwound, Unwound, Unwound, Unwound.
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.