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 El Salvador and from New York.
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 1968 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Sun Ra 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 Amon Düül II. All the underground hits.
All Crime tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ice-T record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 clarinet and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a the Sonics 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?
Funkadelic,
Depeche Mode,
Gichy Dan,
Skaos,
the Normal,
Funky Four + One,
Thee Headcoats,
The Gladiators,
Blossom Toes,
48th St. Collective,
Yellowson,
Anakelly,
The Victims,
Excepter,
Johnny Osbourne,
Masters at Work,
Darondo,
Blake Baxter,
Ludus,
Joyce Sims,
Joensuu 1685,
This Heat,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Nas,
the Slits,
John Holt,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Dorothy Ashby,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Simply Red,
La Düsseldorf,
The American Breed,
Juan Atkins,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Barrington Levy,
The Electric Prunes,
Unrelated Segments,
Grey Daturas,
Youth Brigade,
Soul II Soul,
Derrick Morgan,
John Cale,
Saccharine Trust,
Cecil Taylor,
Lou Reed,
Stiv Bators,
New York Dolls,
The Move,
Jawbox,
The Knickerbockers,
Magma,
Clear Light,
The Misunderstood,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Music Machine,
The Mojo Men,
Kerri Chandler,
Godley & Creme,
Neu!, Neu!, Neu!, Neu!.
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.