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 Cyprus and from Spokane.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1968 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Franke to the rap 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 Soulsonic Force. All the underground hits.
All Deadbeat tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Camouflage 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Hashim record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Todd Terry,
Masters at Work,
Eve St. Jones,
Kool Moe Dee,
Anakelly,
Harpers Bizarre,
Wasted Youth,
Grandmaster Flash,
Bang On A Can,
The Doobie Brothers,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Trojans,
Andrew Hill,
Easy Going,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Whodini,
The Barracudas,
Ludus,
Faust,
Surgeon,
The Searchers,
D'Angelo,
New Order,
The Associates,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Inner City,
Underground Resistance,
Circle Jerks,
Bronski Beat,
Letta Mbulu,
John Lydon,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Skarface,
Lee Hazlewood,
Television Personalities,
Quantec,
Liliput,
Joensuu 1685,
Guru Guru,
Crooked Eye,
Smog,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Peter and Kerry,
The Birthday Party,
Gregory Isaacs,
B.T. Express,
Roger Hodgson,
Leonard Cohen,
the Slits,
Mandrill,
Silicon Teens,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Star Department,
The Sound,
The Durutti Column,
Flipper,
Von Mondo,
Nick Fraelich,
Average White Band,
Marshall Jefferson, Marshall Jefferson, Marshall Jefferson, Marshall Jefferson.
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.