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 Hungary and from Toronto.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 Glasgow and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 theremin 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 Pere Ubu to the crunk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Ponytail. All the underground hits.
All The Human League tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kool G Rap & DJ Polo record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Monks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Roy Ayers,
R.M.O.,
Bill Wells,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Frankie Knuckles,
Arab on Radar,
Malaria!,
CMW,
Underground Resistance,
Von Mondo,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Deakin,
Wasted Youth,
a-ha,
The Fire Engines,
Tim Buckley,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Stiv Bators,
LL Cool J,
Leonard Cohen,
Cluster,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Blossom Toes,
Robert Wyatt,
Thee Headcoats,
Anthony Braxton,
Terry Callier,
Mandrill,
Pere Ubu,
The Seeds,
Vainqueur,
Cal Tjader,
The Vogues,
Grey Daturas,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Funkadelic,
Echospace,
Eric Dolphy,
Agent Orange,
Ludus,
Spoonie Gee,
Jeff Lynne,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
T.S.O.L.,
David Bowie,
New Order,
Patti Smith,
Nas,
The Grass Roots,
The Zeros,
Grauzone,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Lungfish,
Neil Young,
Alton Ellis,
Derrick May,
Eli Mardock,
Hasil Adkins,
The Detroit Cobras,
Tom Boy,
the Soft Cell, the Soft Cell, the Soft Cell, the Soft Cell.
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.