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 Egypt and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1968 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Josef K to the crunk 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 Terry Callier. All the underground hits.
All Soulsonic Force tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Byron Stingily record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a June of 44 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dorothy Ashby,
Blake Baxter,
Graham Central Station,
Little Man,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Parry Music,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
The Flesh Eaters,
Lucky Dragons,
Swans,
Unrelated Segments,
Fatback Band,
Maleditus Sound,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Rekid,
Drexciya,
Johnny Clarke,
Marine Girls,
The Count Five,
Joey Negro,
Deadbeat,
Masters at Work,
Barry Ungar,
Make Up,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Todd Terry,
Niagra,
Jimmy McGriff,
Bill Wells,
Second Layer,
Sonic Youth,
The Sonics,
The Durutti Column,
Michelle Simonal,
Isaac Hayes,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Modern Lovers,
The Toasters,
The Kinks,
The Human League,
Jacob Miller,
The Dave Clark Five,
Public Image Ltd.,
Roger Hodgson,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Brothers Johnson,
Scan 7,
Curtis Mayfield,
Godley & Creme,
Country Teasers,
Television,
H. Thieme,
The Index,
Tres Demented,
Mr. Review,
Lower 48,
Jeru the Damaja,
Joe Smooth,
Mantronix,
Theoretical Girls, Theoretical Girls, Theoretical Girls, Theoretical Girls.
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.