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 Argentina and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1965 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 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 Jawbox to the electroclash 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 Jimmy McGriff. All the underground hits.
All Fela Kuti tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Quadrant record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Tommy Roe record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Seeds,
The Fire Engines,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Black Flag,
Procol Harum,
MC5,
Amon Düül,
A Certain Ratio,
Soft Cell,
Moebius,
Eli Mardock,
Brand Nubian,
Blake Baxter,
The Five Americans,
T. Rex,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Can,
Ice-T,
Gang Gang Dance,
Aaron Thompson,
Camberwell Now,
Barbara Tucker,
Ludus,
Donald Byrd,
Jeru the Damaja,
The Happenings,
The Dirtbombs,
Lalo Schifrin,
Yusef Lateef,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Kaleidoscope,
Todd Terry,
Jacob Miller,
Sonny Sharrock,
Todd Rundgren,
These Immortal Souls,
The Pretty Things,
Camouflage,
Sound Behaviour,
The Last Poets,
Outsiders,
Robert Görl,
Pantytec,
Amon Düül II,
In Retrospect,
Mission of Burma,
Unrelated Segments,
Swans,
Sun Ra,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Black Moon,
The Fall,
Hardrive,
L. Decosne,
Minutemen,
Chris & Cosey,
Audionom,
Jeff Mills,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Yazoo,
Easy Going, Easy Going, Easy Going, Easy Going.
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.