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 Zambia and from Shanghai.
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 1965 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 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 The Offenders to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Traffic Nightmare. All the underground hits.
All Black Sheep tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Amazonics record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Gories record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Swell Maps,
Skriet,
The Neon Judgement,
Dennis Brown,
Moss Icon,
Aaron Thompson,
Marine Girls,
Nirvana,
The Grass Roots,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Joensuu 1685,
The Move,
E-Dancer,
The Golliwogs,
The Evens,
Eric Copeland,
Nick Fraelich,
Glambeats Corp.,
Motorama,
Toni Rubio,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Fatback Band,
Simply Red,
Boredoms,
Grandmaster Flash,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Minutemen,
Jeru the Damaja,
Neil Young,
Hardrive,
The Sonics,
Radiohead,
The American Breed,
The Velvet Underground,
Model 500,
Wally Richardson,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Blackbyrds,
Masters at Work,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Frankie Knuckles,
Television,
The Electric Prunes,
Roxy Music,
Intrusion,
The Cramps,
Mad Mike,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Icehouse,
Banda Bassotti,
OOIOO,
Fela Kuti,
Blake Baxter,
Desert Stars,
The Sound,
Reuben Wilson,
Minny Pops,
Cybotron,
ABBA,
Electric Light Orchestra,
X-101,
Pulsallama,
Alison Limerick,
Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow.
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.