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 Kosovo and from Winnipeg.
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 1961 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 marimba 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 Black Pus to the funk kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Judy Mowatt. All the underground hits.
All Main Source tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Shadows of Knight record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Arcadia record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Donald Byrd,
Wasted Youth,
X-102,
The Sonics,
Pharoah Sanders,
Glambeats Corp.,
Hot Snakes,
Dawn Penn,
Qualms,
Bauhaus,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
the Normal,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Janne Schatter,
Scott Walker,
Neu!,
Jeff Mills,
Sister Nancy,
Wally Richardson,
The Human League,
Rufus Thomas,
The Fortunes,
Cameo,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Underground Resistance,
Roxette,
The Neon Judgement,
X-Ray Spex,
Marvin Gaye,
Marshall Jefferson,
The Vogues,
Flash Fearless,
Flamin' Groovies,
Camberwell Now,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Masters at Work,
Gil Scott Heron,
DNA,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Ossler,
John Lydon,
Lalo Schifrin,
T.S.O.L.,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Raincoats,
Gang Gang Dance,
Bobby Byrd,
Television,
Babytalk,
Carl Craig,
Ultravox,
Andrew Hill,
Monks,
Can,
Echospace,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Lucky Dragons,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Blake Baxter,
Crispian St. Peters,
Flipper, Flipper, Flipper, Flipper.
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.