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 Barbados and from Jakarta.
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 1963 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the güiro 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 Ken Boothe to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Jacques Brel. All the underground hits.
All The Gun Club tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every K-Klass record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Slave record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Chris & Cosey,
Gichy Dan,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Letta Mbulu,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Kinks,
Flash Fearless,
Deepchord,
Y Pants,
Gang Starr,
Saccharine Trust,
Josef K,
Joe Smooth,
Barbara Tucker,
The Black Dice,
Mandrill,
X-102,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Pantaleimon,
Byron Stingily,
Vladislav Delay,
Lightning Bolt,
Harpers Bizarre,
Tomorrow,
KRS-One,
Mars,
The Skatalites,
Leonard Cohen,
Ohio Players,
Neu!,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Swell Maps,
Outsiders,
Arthur Verocai,
Sister Nancy,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Fad Gadget,
The Golliwogs,
Bronski Beat,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Symarip,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Mojo Men,
Pharoah Sanders,
Slick Rick,
The Move,
The Sound,
Cecil Taylor,
Donny Hathaway,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Ituana,
the Human League,
Audionom,
Au Pairs,
Inner City,
Johnny Clarke,
Kayak,
Qualms,
The Cramps,
Pole,
Marcia Griffiths,
Alice Coltrane,
Peter & Gordon, Peter & Gordon, Peter & Gordon, Peter & Gordon.
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.