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 Czech Republic and from Tehran.
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 1966 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 organ 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 Half Japanese to the grime 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 The Cure. All the underground hits.
All The Modern Lovers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Susan Cadogan record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Minnie Riperton record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Infiniti,
PIL,
Babytalk,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Hoover,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Ponytail,
X-Ray Spex,
The Fuzztones,
Henry Cow,
Quantec,
Ultimate Spinach,
Jimmy McGriff,
Television,
June of 44,
Pole,
Tommy Roe,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Matthew Bourne,
Grandmaster Flash,
Cecil Taylor,
Vladislav Delay,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Aswad,
Anakelly,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Durutti Column,
Crash Course in Science,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Althea and Donna,
The Leaves,
David Axelrod,
Alice Coltrane,
Johnny Clarke,
Pantaleimon,
Marshall Jefferson,
Electric Prunes,
Yaz,
Cal Tjader,
The Modern Lovers,
Popol Vuh,
The Blues Magoos,
Mars,
Accadde A,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
These Immortal Souls,
The Toasters,
Donny Hathaway,
Terry Callier,
Lou Reed,
LL Cool J,
The New Christs,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Vainqueur,
Pantytec,
The Victims,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Curtis Mayfield,
Bizarre Inc.,
Pylon, Pylon, Pylon, Pylon.
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.