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 Belize and from Salvador.
But I was there.
I was there in 1962.
I was there at the first Guess Who show in Winnipeg.
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 1969 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 mellotron 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 The Five Americans to the grime kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon. All the underground hits.
All Cybotron tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Leonard Cohen 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Flipper record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gang Starr,
Ultravox,
CMW,
Agitation Free,
Boogie Down Productions,
Alton Ellis,
Lou Reed,
Wasted Youth,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Pulsallama,
The Angels of Light,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Doobie Brothers,
Shoche,
U.S. Maple,
FM Einheit,
The Golliwogs,
Supertramp,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Rotary Connection,
Grauzone,
The Blues Magoos,
Danielle Patucci,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Sällskapet,
The Seeds,
KRS-One,
Cluster,
Radio Birdman,
The Searchers,
the Soft Cell,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Crispian St. Peters,
Masters at Work,
Shuggie Otis,
Bob Dylan,
Arthur Verocai,
Rufus Thomas,
Warren Ellis,
Glambeats Corp.,
Mantronix,
Flipper,
Dead Boys,
Johnny Osbourne,
Schoolly D,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Lightning Bolt,
Public Enemy,
Technova,
Jeff Mills,
Kool Moe Dee,
Pet Shop Boys,
Sugar Minott,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Altered Images,
Sound Behaviour,
Alice Coltrane,
Soul Sonic Force, Soul Sonic Force, Soul Sonic Force, Soul Sonic Force.
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.