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 Chad and from Mumbai.
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 1967 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Derrick Morgan to the crunk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Sugar Minott. All the underground hits.
All Metal Thangz tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Parry Music 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Soul Sonic Force record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Bar-Kays,
Youth Brigade,
Soulsonic Force,
Fatback Band,
Joensuu 1685,
Rapeman,
Wolf Eyes,
Funkadelic,
Circle Jerks,
Shoche,
Subhumans,
Intrusion,
Vainqueur,
Gichy Dan,
Black Pus,
Barclay James Harvest,
The Slits,
Magma,
Shuggie Otis,
Gabor Szabo,
Iggy Pop,
Pole,
The Blues Magoos,
Skriet,
Desert Stars,
The Skatalites,
Roxy Music,
Second Layer,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Minny Pops,
These Immortal Souls,
Jerry Gold Smith,
John Foxx,
Connie Case,
Soul Sonic Force,
Jacob Miller,
Johnny Clarke,
Dorothy Ashby,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Schoolly D,
Michelle Simonal,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Quando Quango,
Slave,
Sällskapet,
Nas,
Monolake,
Mars,
Roy Ayers,
The Red Krayola,
The Leaves,
AZ,
the Germs,
Ossler,
Letta Mbulu,
Sandy B,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
DNA,
Flipper,
Procol Harum,
Echospace,
The Smoke, The Smoke, The Smoke, The Smoke.
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.