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 Mexico and from London.
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 1965 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 Erasure to the grime kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Echospace. All the underground hits.
All Panda Bear tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nick Fraelich 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bobby Hutcherson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Avey Tare,
Index,
Pharoah Sanders,
Lower 48,
Saccharine Trust,
Crispy Ambulance,
Magma,
The Doors,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Outsiders,
Make Up,
Anthony Braxton,
Los Fastidios,
Roxy Music,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Gang Starr,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Human League,
Kool Moe Dee,
Section 25,
Minor Threat,
Drexciya,
Scratch Acid,
The Seeds,
The Sound,
Dual Sessions,
Eric Dolphy,
Easy Going,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Alton Ellis,
Pylon,
Cybotron,
Maleditus Sound,
Minnie Riperton,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Evens,
The Pop Group,
The Durutti Column,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Pagans,
Juan Atkins,
The Smiths,
Sixth Finger,
The Tremeloes,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Litter,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
The Stooges,
UT,
Chris & Cosey,
Funky Four + One,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Donny Hathaway,
DNA,
Camouflage,
R.M.O.,
The Toasters,
The Martian,
The Last Poets, The Last Poets, The Last Poets, The Last Poets.
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.