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 Guinea and from Mumbai.
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 1962 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 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 X-102 to the dance kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Organ. All the underground hits.
All Quantec tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Dark Day 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Barracudas record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
DJ Style,
The Sound,
Tubeway Army,
Matthew Halsall,
Godley & Creme,
Sunsets and Hearts,
DJ Sneak,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Moss Icon,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Main Source,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Deakin,
Funkadelic,
Rod Modell,
Swell Maps,
June of 44,
Gil Scott Heron,
Judy Mowatt,
Das Ding,
Thompson Twins,
The American Breed,
The Fuzztones,
Subhumans,
Skriet,
Groovy Waters,
the Association,
Crooked Eye,
John Coltrane,
Franke,
Malaria!,
Frankie Knuckles,
Graham Central Station,
Letta Mbulu,
New Age Steppers,
Bad Manners,
The Count Five,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Neu!,
This Heat,
Todd Rundgren,
the Swans,
Ludus,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Unrelated Segments,
Dead Boys,
One Last Wish,
Drive Like Jehu,
Mandrill,
Big Daddy Kane,
Iggy Pop,
Idris Muhammad,
Charles Mingus,
Reuben Wilson,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Todd Terry,
Colin Newman,
Erasure,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Minor Threat,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Camberwell Now,
David Bowie, David Bowie, David Bowie, David Bowie.
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.