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 Guinea and from Copenhagen.
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 1966 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 linndrum 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 Connie Case to the disco kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Derrick May. All the underground hits.
All Country Joe & The Fish tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Junior Murvin 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Eric B and Rakim record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Metal Thangz,
Jeff Mills,
Echospace,
Accadde A,
Sun Ra,
Dawn Penn,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Eric B and Rakim,
Goldenarms,
Suicide,
Lalann,
Cybotron,
Brand Nubian,
Section 25,
Boz Scaggs,
Brick,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Alice Coltrane,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Don Cherry,
Q and Not U,
Basic Channel,
Black Moon,
The Star Department,
D'Angelo,
Lungfish,
Stiv Bators,
T. Rex,
X-Ray Spex,
The Wake,
Television Personalities,
Gong,
Scientists,
New Age Steppers,
Anthony Braxton,
Ludus,
Gang Starr,
Public Enemy,
Matthew Bourne,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Gil Scott Heron,
Make Up,
Cheater Slicks,
The Zeros,
Max Romeo,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Negative Approach,
Bobby Hutcherson,
AZ,
Gabor Szabo,
Arthur Verocai,
Brass Construction,
Talk Talk,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Fatback Band,
Mark Hollis,
Lyres,
Deepchord,
Ultravox,
Country Joe & The Fish,
New Order,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Pulsallama,
Cal Tjader, Cal Tjader, Cal Tjader, Cal Tjader.
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.