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 Mongolia and from Calgary.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Chic show in New York.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 808 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 Pylon to the jazz 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 Gil Scott Heron. All the underground hits.
All Rosa Yemen tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Technova 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Cosmic Jokers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin 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?
Kayak,
Eric Copeland,
Letta Mbulu,
Yusef Lateef,
Terrestrial Tones,
Babytalk,
Arcadia,
The Slits,
Black Bananas,
Livin' Joy,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Count Five,
Massinfluence,
Nils Olav,
Radiopuhelimet,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Silicon Teens,
Talk Talk,
Eric Dolphy,
Marine Girls,
Ronan,
Marmalade,
OOIOO,
Bizarre Inc.,
Tubeway Army,
Fad Gadget,
The Star Department,
Cluster,
Alice Coltrane,
Matthew Bourne,
Lee Hazlewood,
Brass Construction,
Faraquet,
The Blues Magoos,
Jeru the Damaja,
Icehouse,
Eden Ahbez,
Brothers Johnson,
The Real Kids,
The Misunderstood,
Fugazi,
One Last Wish,
Camouflage,
Television Personalities,
Flipper,
Cameo,
Jacques Brel,
Robert Hood,
Arthur Verocai,
Ornette Coleman,
Tropical Tobacco,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Soulsonic Force,
Beasts of Bourbon,
the Association,
The Fortunes,
Lebanon Hanover,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Roxette,
Dennis Brown,
Archie Shepp, Archie Shepp, Archie Shepp, Archie Shepp.
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.