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 Paraguay and from Delhi.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1966 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 Donald Fagen 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 Ludus to the punk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Public Enemy. All the underground hits.
All Negative Approach tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Donald Byrd record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and an arpeggiator 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 rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Mad Mike,
The Fire Engines,
Spoonie Gee,
New York Dolls,
Barbara Tucker,
Lebanon Hanover,
the Slits,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Aural Exciters,
Negative Approach,
Smog,
The Barracudas,
Qualms,
Ronan,
Janne Schatter,
Radio Birdman,
L. Decosne,
Marmalade,
Blake Baxter,
Grandmaster Flash,
Gang Green,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Letta Mbulu,
Arthur Verocai,
Donald Byrd,
Bobby Sherman,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Lou Reed,
Au Pairs,
U.S. Maple,
Erykah Badu,
The Remains,
The Fall,
The J.B.'s,
The United States of America,
Radiopuhelimet,
Schoolly D,
ABC,
Nils Olav,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Ultimate Spinach,
The Shadows of Knight,
Marcia Griffiths,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Todd Rundgren,
Jacob Miller,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Pantytec,
Los Fastidios,
ABBA,
Fatback Band,
The Sound,
Funky Four + One,
Heaven 17,
Camberwell Now,
David McCallum,
Terry Callier,
Altered Images,
Grey Daturas,
Oneida,
Alice Coltrane,
Bootsy Collins, Bootsy Collins, Bootsy Collins, Bootsy Collins.
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.