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 Armenia and from Winnipeg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1963 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 theremin 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 John Foxx to the funk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Can. All the underground hits.
All Hoover tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Art Ensemble Of Chicago record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 rhodes and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Neu! record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
LL Cool J,
Barry Ungar,
Charles Mingus,
Brothers Johnson,
Harpers Bizarre,
Niagra,
Davy DMX,
Hot Snakes,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Stooges,
Cymande,
James White and The Blacks,
The Knickerbockers,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Monks,
The Skatalites,
Scratch Acid,
Bobby Sherman,
Mary Jane Girls,
a-ha,
Adolescents,
Mark Hollis,
MC5,
Cybotron,
Eric Copeland,
Joensuu 1685,
Isaac Hayes,
The Monochrome Set,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Move,
Moby Grape,
Dark Day,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Glambeats Corp.,
Grey Daturas,
Cecil Taylor,
Slick Rick,
Black Sheep,
Fela Kuti,
the Bar-Kays,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Robert Wyatt,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Scan 7,
Barbara Tucker,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Nik Kershaw,
Public Image Ltd.,
John Lydon,
Stetsasonic,
Khruangbin,
Grauzone,
Can,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
The Standells,
Cluster,
Josef K,
Yazoo,
The Techniques,
Ituana,
Pagans,
U.S. Maple, U.S. Maple, U.S. Maple, U.S. Maple.
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.