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 Somalia and from Johannesburg.
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 1960 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 Cameo to the dance 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 John Coltrane. All the underground hits.
All Girls At Our Best! tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sad Lovers and Giants record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Prince Buster,
This Heat,
the Swans,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
kango's stein massive,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Michelle Simonal,
Bob Dylan,
Alice Coltrane,
Kenny Larkin,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Swans,
Sexual Harrassment,
Marcia Griffiths,
Patti Smith,
Dawn Penn,
Bluetip,
Althea and Donna,
Idris Muhammad,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Aswad,
Thee Headcoats,
Throbbing Gristle,
Laurel Aitken,
The Fortunes,
Bill Wells,
The New Christs,
Con Funk Shun,
D'Angelo,
Gregory Isaacs,
New Age Steppers,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Adolescents,
Intrusion,
Average White Band,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Spoonie Gee,
Gong,
Max Romeo,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Lalo Schifrin,
The Kinks,
Electric Prunes,
Harpers Bizarre,
Trumans Water,
B.T. Express,
Traffic Nightmare,
Grauzone,
Camouflage,
Flamin' Groovies,
Fugazi,
Al Stewart,
Can,
Ash Ra Tempel,
The American Breed,
the Germs,
H. Thieme,
Tropical Tobacco,
Cymande,
Warren Ellis,
The Grass Roots,
Altered Images, Altered Images, Altered Images, Altered Images.
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.