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 Tuvalu and from Lyon.
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 1968 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 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 Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson to the grime 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 Swell Maps. All the underground hits.
All Lonnie Liston Smith tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every De La Soul & Jungle Brothers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Altered Images record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Todd Terry,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Jacques Brel,
The American Breed,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Byron Stingily,
The Alarm Clocks,
Bad Manners,
Kayak,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Peter & Gordon,
Gerry Rafferty,
Hot Snakes,
June of 44,
The Smoke,
Bootsy Collins,
Black Pus,
Sun City Girls,
Los Fastidios,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Can,
Yazoo,
Hasil Adkins,
Wolf Eyes,
Pulsallama,
Amazonics,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The New Christs,
Negative Approach,
Jeff Lynne,
Lakeside,
U.S. Maple,
The Stooges,
Robert Hood,
DJ Sneak,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Gabor Szabo,
Lebanon Hanover,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Terry Callier,
Flipper,
Marmalade,
Bill Near,
Donald Byrd,
Oneida,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Rakim,
Thee Headcoats,
Jacob Miller,
Spoonie Gee,
The Blues Magoos,
Danielle Patucci,
In Retrospect,
Sugar Minott,
Bob Dylan,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Fuzztones,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Ultra Naté, Ultra Naté, Ultra Naté, Ultra Naté.
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.