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 Kyrgyzstan 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 1961 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 Captain Beefheart 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 Chocolate Watch Band to the rap 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 Unrelated Segments. All the underground hits.
All The Evens tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ajijia Myrayebe record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jandek record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Smog,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Todd Terry,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Stockholm Monsters,
Drive Like Jehu,
Kerri Chandler,
Marvin Gaye,
The Kinks,
Harry Pussy,
Janne Schatter,
Erykah Badu,
T.S.O.L.,
Bobby Womack,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Graham Central Station,
Intrusion,
Funkadelic,
Brothers Johnson,
Frankie Knuckles,
Joensuu 1685,
Pierre Henry,
Rekid,
Kayak,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Real Kids,
Yusef Lateef,
Minutemen,
Blossom Toes,
10cc,
Jimmy McGriff,
Gastr Del Sol,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Underground Resistance,
Tomorrow,
Ituana,
The Five Americans,
The Leaves,
Japan,
Crime,
The Tremeloes,
Jandek,
The Blues Magoos,
Excepter,
Fugazi,
Minny Pops,
Darondo,
Silicon Teens,
A Certain Ratio,
Bill Wells,
Fela Kuti,
Jerry's Kids,
Talk Talk,
The Grass Roots,
Aaron Thompson,
The Shadows of Knight,
Matthew Halsall,
The Pretty Things,
the Sonics,
Eli Mardock,
The Knickerbockers,
Pantytec, Pantytec, Pantytec, Pantytec.
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.