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 East Timor and from Bologna.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1965 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 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 Soul Sonic Force to the dance 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 Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines. All the underground hits.
All Aural Exciters tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Neil Young & Crazy Horse record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a JFA record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Eric B and Rakim,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Funky Four + One,
Nas,
Crash Course in Science,
The Techniques,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Gastr Del Sol,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Monochrome Set,
Pagans,
Tomorrow,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Can,
The Litter,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
The Grass Roots,
T. Rex,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Grauzone,
Jeff Mills,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Siglo XX,
Moss Icon,
Lee Hazlewood,
Soulsonic Force,
Infiniti,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Lindisfarne,
Gil Scott Heron,
Iggy Pop,
Mission of Burma,
The Mojo Men,
Eli Mardock,
Althea and Donna,
Josef K,
The Divine Comedy,
The Misunderstood,
Smog,
a-ha,
Jeru the Damaja,
The Flesh Eaters,
The Index,
Country Teasers,
The Invisible,
ABBA,
Scott Walker,
New Order,
PIL,
Ronan,
Shuggie Otis,
FM Einheit,
The Sound,
Blake Baxter,
The Neon Judgement,
LL Cool J,
June of 44,
Brothers Johnson,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Skriet,
Eyeless In Gaza,
A Certain Ratio,
Sun Ra Arkestra, Sun Ra Arkestra, Sun Ra Arkestra, Sun Ra Arkestra.
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.