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 Hungary and from Manila.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1961 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 sitar 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 Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane 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 Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band. All the underground hits.
All Aaron Thompson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every K-Klass 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kool G Rap & DJ Polo record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Raincoats,
The Motions,
Camberwell Now,
The Offenders,
Schoolly D,
Josef K,
Avey Tare,
Black Bananas,
The Slits,
8 Eyed Spy,
Alton Ellis,
Rotary Connection,
Eric Copeland,
F. McDonald,
Mo-Dettes,
Crime,
Freddie Wadling,
Sun City Girls,
The Mojo Men,
The Cramps,
Von Mondo,
Pulsallama,
The Selecter,
The Gories,
DJ Sneak,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Popol Vuh,
Derrick May,
Moss Icon,
Glambeats Corp.,
Frankie Knuckles,
Peter & Gordon,
Dennis Brown,
Gastr Del Sol,
The Moody Blues,
The Doors,
Subhumans,
Rekid,
The Red Krayola,
Faraquet,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Moebius,
Scrapy,
Minny Pops,
The Detroit Cobras,
The Misunderstood,
B.T. Express,
The Star Department,
Sonic Youth,
Stiv Bators,
Byron Stingily,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Pretty Things,
Marmalade,
Goldenarms,
Scientists,
Radio Birdman,
Mars,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Black Dice,
Amon Düül II, Amon Düül II, Amon Düül II, Amon Düül II.
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.