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 Nepal 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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 snare 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 Fela Kuti to the grime kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Wally Richardson. All the underground hits.
All Von Mondo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Groovy Waters record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kevin Saunderson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Boogie Down Productions,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Spandau Ballet,
UT,
Bang On A Can,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Hashim,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Danielle Patucci,
Anakelly,
Arthur Verocai,
The Move,
Soft Cell,
Amazonics,
Mad Mike,
Scientists,
David McCallum,
Agent Orange,
Make Up,
Arcadia,
The Martian,
Lalo Schifrin,
Max Romeo,
Alphaville,
In Retrospect,
The Skatalites,
Main Source,
Technova,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Eddi Front,
Arab on Radar,
Glenn Branca,
Anthony Braxton,
Tim Buckley,
La Düsseldorf,
Suicide,
The Invisible,
Barclay James Harvest,
The Seeds,
Flamin' Groovies,
New Age Steppers,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Minnie Riperton,
Ponytail,
Unrelated Segments,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Offenders,
Half Japanese,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
The Happenings,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
The Neon Judgement,
Barry Ungar,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Banda Bassotti,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
The Music Machine,
Second Layer,
Mandrill,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson, Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson, Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson, Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson.
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.