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 Australia and from Glasgow.
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 1964 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 arpeggiator 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 Matthew Bourne to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Kool Moe Dee. All the underground hits.
All JFA tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Roy Ayers Ubiquity 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
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 Fluxion record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Moss Icon,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Beau Brummels,
Franke,
Oblivians,
Flipper,
The New Christs,
Dennis Brown,
Peter and Kerry,
MC5,
Lou Christie,
Pierre Henry,
Marvin Gaye,
Pere Ubu,
June Days,
Barrington Levy,
Nirvana,
These Immortal Souls,
The Young Rascals,
Gastr Del Sol,
Black Moon,
Agent Orange,
Sister Nancy,
The Last Poets,
The Gladiators,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
World's Most,
Warren Ellis,
Ten City,
Funkadelic,
the Bar-Kays,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Warsaw,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Cecil Taylor,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Mars,
Half Japanese,
Pussy Galore,
Barclay James Harvest,
Eden Ahbez,
Eric Dolphy,
The Human League,
The Monks,
The Cowsills,
Robert Wyatt,
Von Mondo,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Graham Central Station,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Lightning Bolt,
Groovy Waters,
Godley & Creme,
The Fire Engines,
10cc,
Rakim,
Stereo Dub,
Judy Mowatt,
Scan 7,
Clear Light,
David Bowie,
Lee Hazlewood,
Ken Boothe, Ken Boothe, Ken Boothe, Ken Boothe.
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.