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 Lucia and from Seoul.
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 1969 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 David Bowie 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 Ronnie Foster to the rap kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Bobbi Humphrey. All the underground hits.
All Mandrill tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Sound record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 linndrum and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sugar Minott record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Buckinghams,
Delon & Dalcan,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Quadrant,
Donald Byrd,
Y Pants,
Flamin' Groovies,
the Soft Cell,
Wasted Youth,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Slave,
Vainqueur,
The Moleskins,
Traffic Nightmare,
The Blues Magoos,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Khruangbin,
Barclay James Harvest,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Skarface,
The Golliwogs,
Dead Boys,
The Move,
Mark Hollis,
Suburban Knight,
The Monks,
Popol Vuh,
Rapeman,
Juan Atkins,
The Misunderstood,
Tim Buckley,
K-Klass,
Bobby Womack,
Nick Fraelich,
ABBA,
Tears for Fears,
Easy Going,
X-Ray Spex,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Masters at Work,
Black Bananas,
Flash Fearless,
Yusef Lateef,
Aural Exciters,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Shuggie Otis,
Dawn Penn,
Curtis Mayfield,
Joensuu 1685,
Man Eating Sloth,
Bobby Sherman,
The Standells,
Derrick Morgan,
Goldenarms,
Tres Demented,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Thompson Twins,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers, De La Soul & Jungle Brothers, De La Soul & Jungle Brothers, De La Soul & Jungle Brothers.
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.