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 Netherlands and from New York.
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 1969 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Johannesburg.
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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the mellotron 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 Aswad to the jazz 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 Traffic Nightmare. All the underground hits.
All Soul Sonic Force tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Man Eating Sloth 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Oneida record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
James Chance & The Contortions,
New Order,
Scratch Acid,
Outsiders,
Skaos,
Erykah Badu,
Connie Case,
Monks,
Kerrie Biddell,
Lou Christie,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Brick,
Drive Like Jehu,
Japan,
Soft Machine,
Max Romeo,
Alice Coltrane,
Infiniti,
Whodini,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
The Busters,
The Invisible,
Camouflage,
the Germs,
Rosa Yemen,
The Black Dice,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Flash Fearless,
The Mummies,
Con Funk Shun,
Rhythm & Sound,
Yusef Lateef,
The Selecter,
Aural Exciters,
Tim Buckley,
Neu!,
The Human League,
Ralphi Rosario,
Pere Ubu,
John Cale,
Stiv Bators,
Marine Girls,
Newcleus,
Cecil Taylor,
Duran Duran,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Visage,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
This Heat,
Fad Gadget,
Ten City,
Scan 7,
Cameo,
Black Pus,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Malaria!, Malaria!, Malaria!, Malaria!.
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.