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 St Kitts & Nevis and from Tehran.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia show in London.
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 1967 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Nas to the punk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Oneida. All the underground hits.
All Ultramagnetic MC's tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rufus Thomas record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 an organ and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rakim record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Pantaleimon,
Marmalade,
Kayak,
Lungfish,
Idris Muhammad,
The Moleskins,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Grauzone,
Isaac Hayes,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
the Germs,
Country Teasers,
New York Dolls,
Funky Four + One,
Danielle Patucci,
Bobby Womack,
Boogie Down Productions,
Yaz,
Index,
Amazonics,
Traffic Nightmare,
The Flesh Eaters,
The Music Machine,
Robert Görl,
R.M.O.,
Malaria!,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Unwound,
Steve Hackett,
Yusef Lateef,
D'Angelo,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
The Blues Magoos,
Scrapy,
Lakeside,
Bizarre Inc.,
the Fania All-Stars,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Fall,
Blancmange,
The Names,
Essential Logic,
Rod Modell,
The Black Dice,
The Sound,
John Cale,
Little Man,
Arthur Verocai,
Brand Nubian,
Bill Near,
Joey Negro,
The Knickerbockers,
Minutemen,
Lightning Bolt,
Soul Sonic Force,
the Association,
Agitation Free,
The Raincoats,
Ralphi Rosario,
Fifty Foot Hose,
This Heat,
Rosa Yemen, Rosa Yemen, Rosa Yemen, Rosa Yemen.
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.