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 Lille.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 theremin 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 Art Ensemble Of Chicago to the punk 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 Darondo. All the underground hits.
All Marshall Jefferson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every the Germs record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Blake Baxter record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rakim,
Boredoms,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Terry Callier,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Circle Jerks,
In Retrospect,
The Buckinghams,
Amazonics,
Yellowson,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Skaos,
Bauhaus,
Cymande,
Index,
The Angels of Light,
Faraquet,
Goldenarms,
Stetsasonic,
Dual Sessions,
Toni Rubio,
Moebius,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Simply Red,
Grauzone,
Laurel Aitken,
The Kinks,
Ronan,
Dennis Brown,
Cameo,
Eric Copeland,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
The Birthday Party,
Zapp,
Yazoo,
Ken Boothe,
Altered Images,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Cecil Taylor,
The Slackers,
Letta Mbulu,
David Axelrod,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
CMW,
Gabor Szabo,
Lindisfarne,
UT,
The Dead C,
Little Man,
Interpol,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Golliwogs,
Surgeon,
David Bowie,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Smiths, The Smiths, The Smiths, The Smiths.
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.