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 Saudi Arabia and from Philadelphia.
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 1967 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 theremin 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 Aural Exciters to the rap kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines. All the underground hits.
All John Holt tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Joe Smooth record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Maurizio,
Don Cherry,
Howard Jones,
Unrelated Segments,
Yusef Lateef,
Massinfluence,
Mandrill,
Oblivians,
Angry Samoans,
Au Pairs,
Electric Prunes,
Colin Newman,
DJ Style,
The Red Krayola,
Groovy Waters,
The Human League,
Thompson Twins,
Easy Going,
The Associates,
John Lydon,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Magma,
Icehouse,
Royal Trux,
Oneida,
Ultimate Spinach,
Camberwell Now,
The Happenings,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The United States of America,
The Gap Band,
Sun City Girls,
The Detroit Cobras,
the Germs,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Connie Case,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Ohio Players,
Charles Mingus,
Minny Pops,
The Smiths,
Arab on Radar,
Kool Moe Dee,
Clear Light,
Kevin Saunderson,
Janne Schatter,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Siglo XX,
Sexual Harrassment,
Nico,
Ossler,
Mantronix,
Heaven 17,
Brick,
The Gladiators,
The Slackers,
Newcleus,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Young Rascals,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Mo-Dettes,
the Normal,
The Golliwogs,
Traffic Nightmare, Traffic Nightmare, Traffic Nightmare, Traffic Nightmare.
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.