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 Korea South and from Philadelphia.
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 1964 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Copenhagen.
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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Joe Finger to the grime kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Fluxion. All the underground hits.
All The Blues Magoos tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rufus Thomas 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ultimate Spinach record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Matthew Halsall,
The Fire Engines,
Delta 5,
Goldenarms,
Stockholm Monsters,
John Cale,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Andrew Hill,
New Order,
Scrapy,
Drexciya,
Stereo Dub,
Ronan,
Nick Fraelich,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Youth Brigade,
Minnie Riperton,
Anakelly,
Tears for Fears,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Maleditus Sound,
Hot Snakes,
Tubeway Army,
James Chance & The Contortions,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Average White Band,
Cluster,
the Human League,
Black Pus,
Lou Christie,
Procol Harum,
Severed Heads,
OOIOO,
Sonny Sharrock,
Barclay James Harvest,
Brothers Johnson,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
The Beau Brummels,
Dorothy Ashby,
Black Bananas,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Jacob Miller,
Bobby Womack,
Joe Finger,
Lalann,
Minny Pops,
Janne Schatter,
Pharoah Sanders,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Bootsy Collins,
Archie Shepp,
The Zeros,
Wings,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Kurtis Blow,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
The Slackers,
Arcadia,
Soft Machine,
The Smiths,
Alice Coltrane, Alice Coltrane, Alice Coltrane, Alice Coltrane.
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.