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 Rwanda and from Calgary.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Chic 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 1966 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Darondo to the punk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Cowsills. All the underground hits.
All Lou Reed tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Aaron Thompson record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s 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 Charles Mingus record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Theoretical Girls,
Masters at Work,
The Offenders,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Dorothy Ashby,
Alison Limerick,
Todd Rundgren,
Accadde A,
The Monochrome Set,
Echospace,
Negative Approach,
Subhumans,
Josef K,
Fugazi,
The Kinks,
Marshall Jefferson,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Slave,
The Doors,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Hardrive,
Whodini,
Leonard Cohen,
Marc Almond,
Graham Central Station,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
MDC,
Joensuu 1685,
The Happenings,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Joy Division,
World's Most,
Bobby Sherman,
Scrapy,
Stetsasonic,
Donald Byrd,
Severed Heads,
Cameo,
Kerrie Biddell,
Suburban Knight,
Symarip,
The Barracudas,
Bang On A Can,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Leaves,
Sixth Finger,
Chris Corsano,
Sister Nancy,
Lebanon Hanover,
Audionom,
La Düsseldorf,
The Modern Lovers,
Los Fastidios,
Qualms,
Gil Scott Heron,
Inner City,
Y Pants,
Monolake,
ABC,
Motorama,
Skriet, Skriet, Skriet, Skriet.
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.