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 Senegal and from Houston.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia show in London.
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 1967 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Louis and Bebe Barron to the crunk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Manfred Mann's Earth Band. All the underground hits.
All Urselle tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Remains 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Last Poets record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Aswad,
Ludus,
Charles Mingus,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The Move,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Trumans Water,
AZ,
ABBA,
EPMD,
the Fania All-Stars,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Rapeman,
The Moody Blues,
Japan,
Easy Going,
B.T. Express,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
The Names,
The Toasters,
Flash Fearless,
David McCallum,
Magazine,
Johnny Osbourne,
Half Japanese,
the Normal,
James Chance & The Contortions,
the Association,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Isaac Hayes,
Wings,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
The Evens,
Jacques Brel,
Mr. Review,
The United States of America,
The Grass Roots,
Minor Threat,
The Alarm Clocks,
Robert Görl,
Barry Ungar,
Albert Ayler,
Fear,
the Bar-Kays,
The Count Five,
Agent Orange,
Ossler,
Funky Four + One,
Quando Quango,
Pussy Galore,
Vainqueur,
Harmonia,
The Seeds,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Sight & Sound,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Kaleidoscope,
Donny Hathaway,
The New Christs,
Scratch Acid, Scratch Acid, Scratch Acid, Scratch Acid.
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.