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 Togo and from Woodstock.
But I was there.
I was there in 1978.
I was there at the first Visage show in London.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Shanghai.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the oboe 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 A Flock of Seagulls to the dance kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Robert Wyatt. All the underground hits.
All The Last Poets tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Doobie Brothers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Soulsonic Force record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Wings,
B.T. Express,
Yusef Lateef,
These Immortal Souls,
Johnny Osbourne,
Jacques Brel,
Mars,
Tropical Tobacco,
Little Man,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
10cc,
Monolake,
Chris & Cosey,
This Heat,
Hashim,
Derrick Morgan,
The Human League,
Rekid,
Saccharine Trust,
Eddi Front,
Ten City,
Stereo Dub,
Bizarre Inc.,
EPMD,
Electric Prunes,
Juan Atkins,
Television Personalities,
One Last Wish,
Anakelly,
The Martian,
Zapp,
The Angels of Light,
Newcleus,
Marvin Gaye,
Throbbing Gristle,
Outsiders,
David McCallum,
Schoolly D,
The Cure,
Animal Collective,
ABBA,
Amon Düül II,
Don Cherry,
Clear Light,
The Moleskins,
Alison Limerick,
The Stooges,
Rufus Thomas,
Bush Tetras,
Lyres,
Drive Like Jehu,
Ultravox,
The Doobie Brothers,
Television,
Flipper,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Five Americans,
Moby Grape,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
The Smoke,
The Zeros, The Zeros, The Zeros, The Zeros.
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.