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 Lithuania and from Glasgow.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Notorious Big And Bone Thugs to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Pet Shop Boys. All the underground hits.
All James Chance & The Contortions tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Seeds 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Yusef Lateef record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Mantronix,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Jeru the Damaja,
Marshall Jefferson,
Glambeats Corp.,
The Litter,
Peter & Gordon,
Neil Young,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Main Source,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
48th St. Collective,
The Fall,
Maleditus Sound,
ABC,
June of 44,
the Soft Cell,
Goldenarms,
Ice-T,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Brick,
The Monks,
JFA,
Judy Mowatt,
Anthony Braxton,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Alton Ellis,
Boredoms,
Piero Umiliani,
Nico,
the Germs,
the Normal,
David Axelrod,
New Order,
X-Ray Spex,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Absolute Body Control,
Joe Smooth,
The Zeros,
Con Funk Shun,
Tubeway Army,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Alphaville,
Reuben Wilson,
Wasted Youth,
Adolescents,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Moby Grape,
The Trojans,
F. McDonald,
The Real Kids,
Gang Starr,
D'Angelo,
Rekid,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Donald Byrd,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Eurythmics,
Fat Boys,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell, N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell, N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell, N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell.
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.