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 Korea North and from Delhi.
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 1968 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 1971 at the first Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
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 LL Cool J to the crunk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Big Daddy Kane. All the underground hits.
All Yusef Lateef tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Mojo Men 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Black Moon record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Letta Mbulu,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Michelle Simonal,
Rapeman,
Lyres,
Danielle Patucci,
AZ,
The Busters,
Zapp,
Drive Like Jehu,
Youth Brigade,
Sugar Minott,
Marvin Gaye,
Magma,
Reagan Youth,
L. Decosne,
Rites of Spring,
James White and The Blacks,
Juan Atkins,
Todd Terry,
the Human League,
Black Moon,
Silicon Teens,
The Alarm Clocks,
Zero Boys,
Bill Near,
The Happenings,
Wolf Eyes,
Unwound,
Deepchord,
Fort Wilson Riot,
U.S. Maple,
FM Einheit,
Graham Central Station,
Motorama,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Suicide,
Agitation Free,
Andrew Hill,
Wings,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Moebius,
The Seeds,
Judy Mowatt,
Terry Callier,
Sam Rivers,
Absolute Body Control,
The Kinks,
Black Sheep,
Little Man,
Procol Harum,
The Names,
The Flesh Eaters,
Franke,
Moby Grape,
Groovy Waters,
Pagans,
Godley & Creme,
Average White Band,
DJ Style,
Barclay James Harvest,
the Sonics, the Sonics, the Sonics, the Sonics.
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.