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 the UAE and from Tehran.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1964 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 Holger Czukay 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 Ronan to the grime kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Notorious Big And Bone Thugs. All the underground hits.
All Alice Coltrane tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nas record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Eden Ahbez record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gang of Four,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Count Five,
T.S.O.L.,
Drexciya,
Ralphi Rosario,
Das Ding,
The Remains,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Pantaleimon,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Monks,
A Certain Ratio,
Eric Dolphy,
Suicide,
John Cale,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Jacob Miller,
Mission of Burma,
Drive Like Jehu,
Susan Cadogan,
The Tremeloes,
Popol Vuh,
Con Funk Shun,
Index,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Godley & Creme,
The Seeds,
Rapeman,
Gichy Dan,
The Beau Brummels,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Boz Scaggs,
Delta 5,
Cybotron,
Harpers Bizarre,
Average White Band,
Q and Not U,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
The Golliwogs,
Q65,
KRS-One,
The Shadows of Knight,
Roxy Music,
Newcleus,
Adolescents,
Sandy B,
Carl Craig,
Magma,
the Swans,
The J.B.'s,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Judy Mowatt,
Underground Resistance,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Symarip,
Barbara Tucker,
Qualms,
Television Personalities,
Dorothy Ashby,
Grauzone,
Erasure,
Spoonie Gee, Spoonie Gee, Spoonie Gee, Spoonie Gee.
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.