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 India and from Beijing.
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 1965 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 chamberlin 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 Rosa Yemen to the grime 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 Ponytail. All the underground hits.
All Soul II Soul tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Skarface record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gang Gang Dance record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Roy Ayers,
The Moody Blues,
Minnie Riperton,
Lindisfarne,
Laurel Aitken,
Moss Icon,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
The Trojans,
The Gladiators,
Delta 5,
Ludus,
Tim Buckley,
Theoretical Girls,
Nils Olav,
The Flesh Eaters,
Jacob Miller,
New York Dolls,
Groovy Waters,
The Dave Clark Five,
X-Ray Spex,
The Invisible,
The Moleskins,
Boredoms,
Sight & Sound,
the Swans,
Stiv Bators,
Idris Muhammad,
Lou Christie,
The Cowsills,
Sexual Harrassment,
The Gun Club,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Robert Hood,
Dennis Brown,
Juan Atkins,
Dark Day,
Carl Craig,
8 Eyed Spy,
Electric Prunes,
Prince Buster,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Youth Brigade,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Mad Mike,
Shoche,
F. McDonald,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Sonics,
Steve Hackett,
Lucky Dragons,
The Motions,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Scientists,
Angry Samoans,
Mantronix,
Amon Düül II,
Dorothy Ashby,
Ituana,
Television Personalities,
DNA,
Monks,
Guru Guru,
Terrestrial Tones, Terrestrial Tones, Terrestrial Tones, Terrestrial Tones.
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.