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 Chad and from Columbus.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 linndrum 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 X-101 to the rap kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Bill Near. All the underground hits.
All Sex Pistols tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Trumans Water 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Monks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jerry Gold Smith,
Soft Machine,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Archie Shepp,
Crooked Eye,
Derrick Morgan,
KRS-One,
Eric B and Rakim,
Eddi Front,
Buzzcocks,
Loose Ends,
K-Klass,
Eli Mardock,
Scott Walker,
Angry Samoans,
Yusef Lateef,
Young Marble Giants,
The Monks,
AZ,
The Fall,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Popol Vuh,
Half Japanese,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Gang Starr,
Camberwell Now,
10cc,
Ituana,
Kaleidoscope,
The Divine Comedy,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Michelle Simonal,
T.S.O.L.,
Wally Richardson,
Danielle Patucci,
R.M.O.,
The Techniques,
Rufus Thomas,
Man Parrish,
Black Sheep,
a-ha,
Letta Mbulu,
Ludus,
The Trojans,
Arcadia,
Toni Rubio,
Gastr Del Sol,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Mark Hollis,
Schoolly D,
Tears for Fears,
Bluetip,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Public Image Ltd.,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Johnny Clarke,
Ice-T,
Pierre Henry, Pierre Henry, Pierre Henry, Pierre Henry.
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.