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 Equatorial Guinea and from Winnipeg.
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 1967 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1971 at the first Neu! practice in a loft in Düsseldorf.
I was working on the rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Derrick May 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 Roy Ayers Ubiquity. All the underground hits.
All Schoolly D tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nation of Ulysses record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 808 and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Scan 7 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord 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?
Ohio Players,
The Fuzztones,
Lou Christie,
Warsaw,
Depeche Mode,
Clear Light,
The Busters,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Cheater Slicks,
The Cowsills,
Trumans Water,
Negative Approach,
Mr. Review,
Severed Heads,
the Slits,
the Germs,
It's A Beautiful Day,
kango's stein massive,
The Fortunes,
Beasts of Bourbon,
the Fania All-Stars,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Infiniti,
Agent Orange,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Neil Young,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Los Fastidios,
The Sonics,
Bobby Womack,
Roy Ayers,
Camouflage,
Rod Modell,
Fugazi,
Darondo,
Eve St. Jones,
Ice-T,
The Techniques,
DJ Style,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Gladiators,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
The Red Krayola,
John Holt,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Patti Smith,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Music Machine,
Inner City,
The Evens,
The Martian,
Schoolly D,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Lalann,
The Alarm Clocks,
Susan Cadogan,
Althea and Donna,
Todd Terry,
Cameo,
Simply Red,
CMW, CMW, CMW, CMW.
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.