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 the UAE and from Bremen.
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 1968 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Halifax.
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 at the first Suicide practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Shuggie Otis to the rap 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 Yazoo. All the underground hits.
All Sixth Finger tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Crispian St. Peters record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 clarinet and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Electric Prunes record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Todd Terry,
Black Flag,
Brand Nubian,
Con Funk Shun,
X-101,
Bizarre Inc.,
Zapp,
U.S. Maple,
Rhythm & Sound,
Intrusion,
Prince Buster,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Jacques Brel,
Wire,
Camouflage,
Fad Gadget,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Can,
La Düsseldorf,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
The Velvet Underground,
Pharoah Sanders,
Josef K,
Radio Birdman,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Thompson Twins,
Mantronix,
Sarah Menescal,
Black Moon,
Gastr Del Sol,
The Barracudas,
Brothers Johnson,
Girls At Our Best!,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
The Golliwogs,
Sonny Sharrock,
Kas Product,
Colin Newman,
The Angels of Light,
Aural Exciters,
Rotary Connection,
Erykah Badu,
Scrapy,
Tropical Tobacco,
Model 500,
Nils Olav,
H. Thieme,
Marmalade,
Gregory Isaacs,
Laurel Aitken,
Gerry Rafferty,
A Certain Ratio,
JFA,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Monolake,
Kerri Chandler,
Reuben Wilson,
Surgeon,
The Fugs,
Frankie Knuckles,
The Gap Band,
The Shadows of Knight, The Shadows of Knight, The Shadows of Knight, The Shadows of Knight.
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.