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 Fiji and from Woodstock.
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 1963 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Justin Hinds & The Dominoes to the techno kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Alton Ellis. All the underground hits.
All Silicon Teens tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mr. Review record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 rhodes and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Connie Case record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Groovy Waters,
Flash Fearless,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Dennis Brown,
The Associates,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Theoretical Girls,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Los Fastidios,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Half Japanese,
Bill Near,
H. Thieme,
Godley & Creme,
Brand Nubian,
ABC,
X-102,
Brass Construction,
the Slits,
F. McDonald,
Mars,
Camberwell Now,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Niagra,
the Human League,
The Seeds,
Joe Smooth,
Jerry's Kids,
Bobby Sherman,
Moby Grape,
The Black Dice,
T.S.O.L.,
The United States of America,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Outsiders,
The Gun Club,
UT,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Nik Kershaw,
Carl Craig,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Public Enemy,
Soft Machine,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Symarip,
Idris Muhammad,
The Standells,
John Lydon,
Jeru the Damaja,
The Leaves,
Freddie Wadling,
Fear,
Circle Jerks,
The Names,
Radiopuhelimet,
Ornette Coleman,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Graham Central Station,
Patti Smith,
Ossler, Ossler, Ossler, Ossler.
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.