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 Sierra Leone and from Mumbai.
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 1966 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 1980 at the first Cybotron practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Jeru the Damaja to the techno 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 The Gun Club. All the underground hits.
All Tomorrow tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Easy Going record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Art Ensemble Of Chicago record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Roy Ayers,
Unwound,
Minutemen,
Electric Prunes,
Gang Green,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Wasted Youth,
Outsiders,
the Bar-Kays,
Eurythmics,
Dorothy Ashby,
Eddi Front,
Camouflage,
Black Bananas,
Amon Düül,
Crash Course in Science,
Joyce Sims,
Arcadia,
the Sonics,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Fatback Band,
Jandek,
Suburban Knight,
ABBA,
The Durutti Column,
Main Source,
The Cramps,
Public Enemy,
Yusef Lateef,
Ronan,
Tears for Fears,
Lebanon Hanover,
Scan 7,
Radiohead,
UT,
The Fortunes,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
The Raincoats,
Cecil Taylor,
Pet Shop Boys,
One Last Wish,
Gastr Del Sol,
Soft Cell,
Shuggie Otis,
Negative Approach,
Godley & Creme,
Donald Byrd,
Wolf Eyes,
Simply Red,
Au Pairs,
Crispy Ambulance,
Panda Bear,
New York Dolls,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Flash Fearless,
Charles Mingus,
Fear,
The Busters,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Kenny Larkin,
Deadbeat,
Joensuu 1685,
Fat Boys,
Wally Richardson, Wally Richardson, Wally Richardson, Wally Richardson.
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.