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 Vietnam and from Cairo.
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 1960 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 1976 at the first Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the 808 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 Hashim to the grunge 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 Bronski Beat. All the underground hits.
All JFA tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Arthur Verocai record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 a theremin and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Isaac Hayes record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sugar Minott,
Clear Light,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Traffic Nightmare,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Tremeloes,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Gories,
Dark Day,
Au Pairs,
Davy DMX,
Rites of Spring,
Anthony Braxton,
One Last Wish,
Stiv Bators,
Kevin Saunderson,
Agent Orange,
Laurel Aitken,
Terrestrial Tones,
Lower 48,
Alice Coltrane,
Joe Smooth,
Ultravox,
Mary Jane Girls,
Maleditus Sound,
Rod Modell,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Kinks,
Minnie Riperton,
In Retrospect,
Easy Going,
Deadbeat,
Isaac Hayes,
Josef K,
The Blues Magoos,
The Sonics,
Roy Ayers,
ABBA,
Deepchord,
Bush Tetras,
Man Eating Sloth,
Heaven 17,
The Detroit Cobras,
This Heat,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Urselle,
Television Personalities,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Glenn Branca,
Severed Heads,
Crime,
E-Dancer,
Nico,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Eve St. Jones,
Boredoms,
Surgeon,
Robert Hood,
Cluster,
Curtis Mayfield,
Popol Vuh,
New Age Steppers, New Age Steppers, New Age Steppers, New Age Steppers.
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.