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 Gabon and from Paris.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 spring reverb 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 Sun City Girls to the funk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Funky Four + One. All the underground hits.
All Talk Talk tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ultimate Spinach record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Niagra record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Oneida,
Ralphi Rosario,
Glambeats Corp.,
The Trojans,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Toni Rubio,
Subhumans,
The Vogues,
Dorothy Ashby,
Cheater Slicks,
Altered Images,
8 Eyed Spy,
Panda Bear,
X-Ray Spex,
Babytalk,
Gong,
Talk Talk,
Soft Machine,
Gang Green,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Rod Modell,
Arab on Radar,
Swans,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Susan Cadogan,
Kool Moe Dee,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
The Fugs,
The Tremeloes,
Moss Icon,
David McCallum,
Adolescents,
Pantaleimon,
Grandmaster Flash,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Ossler,
Alice Coltrane,
Quando Quango,
Thee Headcoats,
OOIOO,
Kaleidoscope,
Barbara Tucker,
Erasure,
Frankie Knuckles,
Lee Hazlewood,
Andrew Hill,
Zapp,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Joe Finger,
Scott Walker,
Roy Ayers,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Laurel Aitken,
The Moody Blues,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
the Fania All-Stars,
Aaron Thompson,
PIL,
Massinfluence,
Arthur Verocai,
Marc Almond,
Stiv Bators, Stiv Bators, Stiv Bators, Stiv Bators.
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.