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 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 1960 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Sly & The Family Stone to the rock kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 The Men They Couldn't Hang. All the underground hits.
All R.M.O. tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every It's A Beautiful Day record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 808 and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Eric Dolphy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Little Man,
A Certain Ratio,
Simply Red,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Tim Buckley,
Albert Ayler,
Carl Craig,
Gang Gang Dance,
Lightning Bolt,
Fat Boys,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Sun City Girls,
Monolake,
Adolescents,
The Durutti Column,
Johnny Osbourne,
Joy Division,
Suburban Knight,
The Mighty Diamonds,
The Motions,
Sex Pistols,
The Invisible,
Kool Moe Dee,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Swell Maps,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Theoretical Girls,
Joey Negro,
Q and Not U,
Crash Course in Science,
Stiv Bators,
Glenn Branca,
Fela Kuti,
Newcleus,
Jeff Mills,
Hoover,
Funky Four + One,
Glambeats Corp.,
Piero Umiliani,
The Barracudas,
Neu!,
This Heat,
Underground Resistance,
The Remains,
The Count Five,
Mo-Dettes,
Mantronix,
Sight & Sound,
Gerry Rafferty,
Brass Construction,
Echospace,
Gil Scott Heron,
Tomorrow,
Rekid,
Prince Buster,
Curtis Mayfield,
T.S.O.L.,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The Cowsills,
Barbara Tucker,
Michelle Simonal,
Hardrive, Hardrive, Hardrive, Hardrive.
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.