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 Nigeria and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1973.
I was there at the first Television show in New York.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Lyon.
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 synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Marvin Gaye to the disco 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 Rahsaan Roland Kirk. All the underground hits.
All Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Faraquet 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lizzy Mercier Descloux record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
L. Decosne,
Main Source,
The Leaves,
The Gun Club,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Tim Buckley,
Cecil Taylor,
Tommy Roe,
Dorothy Ashby,
Kas Product,
The Young Rascals,
Goldenarms,
Blake Baxter,
Leonard Cohen,
Groovy Waters,
Neil Young,
Grandmaster Flash,
Sam Rivers,
Scan 7,
Morten Harket,
Barrington Levy,
Fat Boys,
The Neon Judgement,
Clear Light,
Kayak,
Don Cherry,
Con Funk Shun,
Supertramp,
Hashim,
Brand Nubian,
Parry Music,
The Stooges,
The Litter,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Pole,
Stetsasonic,
Rakim,
Minor Threat,
The Saints,
The Alarm Clocks,
The Blackbyrds,
The Flesh Eaters,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Severed Heads,
Robert Wyatt,
Simply Red,
Average White Band,
Mission of Burma,
Marcia Griffiths,
Jandek,
DJ Style,
The Blues Magoos,
Funkadelic,
Moby Grape,
Livin' Joy,
Boz Scaggs,
Scratch Acid,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Fatback Band,
Pulsallama,
Boogie Down Productions,
The Cowsills, The Cowsills, The Cowsills, The Cowsills.
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.