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 Iraq and from Cairo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1962.
I was there at the first Guess Who show in Winnipeg.
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 1969 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Teenage Jesus and the Jerks to the disco kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Aural Exciters. All the underground hits.
All Donny Hathaway tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nirvana 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Motions,
The New Christs,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
The Durutti Column,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Pop Group,
Arab on Radar,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Scrapy,
Man Eating Sloth,
Morten Harket,
Soul II Soul,
Black Sheep,
Lucky Dragons,
The Doors,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Lyres,
Rekid,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Bang On A Can,
Tim Buckley,
Frankie Knuckles,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Outsiders,
Skriet,
The Kinks,
The Smiths,
Barry Ungar,
The Mojo Men,
Alton Ellis,
Stereo Dub,
Marshall Jefferson,
Bobby Byrd,
Arcadia,
Johnny Osbourne,
Royal Trux,
Japan,
Young Marble Giants,
Echospace,
Khruangbin,
The Detroit Cobras,
Slick Rick,
Marcia Griffiths,
Sound Behaviour,
Nation of Ulysses,
Popol Vuh,
Mary Jane Girls,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Iggy Pop,
Intrusion,
OOIOO,
Jesper Dahlback,
Shuggie Otis,
Hot Snakes,
X-101,
This Heat,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Searchers,
Mandrill,
Rotary Connection,
T. Rex, T. Rex, T. Rex, T. Rex.
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.