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 Venezuela and from Accra.
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 1960 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 DNA to the disco 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 Faust. All the underground hits.
All Porter Ricks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Skatalites 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Panda Bear 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?
Sly & The Family Stone,
Ornette Coleman,
Jacques Brel,
Rosa Yemen,
Section 25,
the Bar-Kays,
Organ,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Fortunes,
Jimmy McGriff,
Scion,
Hardrive,
Inner City,
The Techniques,
Talk Talk,
Black Pus,
Scan 7,
The Shadows of Knight,
Minor Threat,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Marshall Jefferson,
Aaron Thompson,
The Sound,
K-Klass,
Brand Nubian,
The Barracudas,
Traffic Nightmare,
Gong,
the Fania All-Stars,
Flipper,
Echospace,
Pagans,
The Names,
The Music Machine,
The Vogues,
Ronan,
Peter & Gordon,
Scientists,
Tommy Roe,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The Doobie Brothers,
Procol Harum,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Mummies,
Derrick Morgan,
Urselle,
Glambeats Corp.,
Cheater Slicks,
Tomorrow,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Joe Smooth,
Marvin Gaye,
Slick Rick,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Pharoah Sanders,
Jacob Miller,
Matthew Bourne,
Das Ding,
Rapeman, Rapeman, Rapeman, Rapeman.
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.