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 Uzbekistan and from Bologna.
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 Lagos and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 The Divine Comedy to the dance kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish. All the underground hits.
All EPMD tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Iggy Pop record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kerri Chandler record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bootsy Collins,
Simply Red,
Excepter,
Jimmy McGriff,
E-Dancer,
Masters at Work,
Soft Cell,
Pet Shop Boys,
Brand Nubian,
Roxette,
Zero Boys,
Dual Sessions,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Misunderstood,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Sparks,
Ice-T,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Rakim,
Lyres,
Patti Smith,
Morten Harket,
Shuggie Otis,
the Normal,
Procol Harum,
Charles Mingus,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Livin' Joy,
Graham Central Station,
Rapeman,
The Smiths,
The Buckinghams,
The Standells,
Joey Negro,
Tropical Tobacco,
Eric Dolphy,
Leonard Cohen,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Andrew Hill,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
James White and The Blacks,
Arab on Radar,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Infiniti,
Mantronix,
Thompson Twins,
The Smoke,
Animal Collective,
Pole,
Blossom Toes,
U.S. Maple,
Chrome,
Soft Machine,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Groovy Waters,
The Skatalites,
Pulsallama,
DJ Sneak,
Black Bananas,
Letta Mbulu,
Larry & the Blue Notes, Larry & the Blue Notes, Larry & the Blue Notes, Larry & the Blue Notes.
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.