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 Jamaica and from Paris.
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 1962 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Shuggie Otis to the funk kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Zapp. All the underground hits.
All Rotary Connection tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Icehouse record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 chamberlin and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cal Tjader,
Traffic Nightmare,
Ken Boothe,
The Slits,
Alison Limerick,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Marvin Gaye,
The Martian,
KRS-One,
Arab on Radar,
Anakelly,
Index,
Gregory Isaacs,
The Neon Judgement,
Niagra,
Urselle,
Rotary Connection,
Nik Kershaw,
Essential Logic,
Harmonia,
The United States of America,
Lakeside,
One Last Wish,
Q and Not U,
Robert Hood,
Curtis Mayfield,
Massinfluence,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
the Bar-Kays,
Angry Samoans,
This Heat,
Anthony Braxton,
These Immortal Souls,
Minny Pops,
The Moleskins,
Donny Hathaway,
Yaz,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
The Beau Brummels,
Fear,
Brass Construction,
Danielle Patucci,
The Cowsills,
Byron Stingily,
Neu!,
Joy Division,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Jacques Brel,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
The Count Five,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
The Blues Magoos,
U.S. Maple,
DJ Style,
Man Parrish,
Lee Hazlewood,
Radio Birdman,
Barclay James Harvest,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Youth Brigade, Youth Brigade, Youth Brigade, Youth Brigade.
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.