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 Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 synthesizer 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 Ultravox to the grunge 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 The Barracudas. All the underground hits.
All Vladislav Delay tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Neil Young record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Khruangbin record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dorothy Ashby,
The Gap Band,
Joensuu 1685,
Eli Mardock,
Agitation Free,
Slick Rick,
Chris & Cosey,
Skriet,
Flamin' Groovies,
Nas,
Sarah Menescal,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Graham Central Station,
Albert Ayler,
Funkadelic,
Altered Images,
Eddi Front,
The Slits,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
T. Rex,
The Pop Group,
MDC,
Technova,
D'Angelo,
U.S. Maple,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Dawn Penn,
Bronski Beat,
Alison Limerick,
Cymande,
Jeff Mills,
The Vogues,
The Skatalites,
Throbbing Gristle,
Mars,
Lindisfarne,
JFA,
Index,
Metal Thangz,
Blake Baxter,
Bobby Womack,
Arab on Radar,
Barclay James Harvest,
Fluxion,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Mark Hollis,
Brass Construction,
Terry Callier,
the Fania All-Stars,
Monolake,
Agent Orange,
Tropical Tobacco,
Quantec,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Marcia Griffiths,
Basic Channel,
Isaac Hayes,
Pole,
Soul II Soul,
Monks, Monks, Monks, Monks.
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.