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 Djibouti and from Mumbai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1964 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1971 at the first Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 The Fire Engines to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 DeepChord presents Echospace. All the underground hits.
All The Smiths tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Alice Coltrane 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar 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?
Crime,
Excepter,
Minnie Riperton,
Piero Umiliani,
Alphaville,
Big Daddy Kane,
The Techniques,
MC5,
Delta 5,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Technova,
The Modern Lovers,
Fatback Band,
Radiopuhelimet,
The Fire Engines,
Sight & Sound,
Jimmy McGriff,
Sparks,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
James White and The Blacks,
Ronnie Foster,
Janne Schatter,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Masters at Work,
Talk Talk,
Maurizio,
Schoolly D,
Agent Orange,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Lucky Dragons,
LL Cool J,
Sound Behaviour,
Graham Central Station,
Amazonics,
DNA,
Mad Mike,
Kerrie Biddell,
Donald Byrd,
Crispy Ambulance,
Darondo,
Trumans Water,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
A Certain Ratio,
Rosa Yemen,
Rufus Thomas,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Real Kids,
Sunsets and Hearts,
The Black Dice,
Funky Four + One,
Bush Tetras,
Joe Smooth,
L. Decosne,
Vainqueur,
8 Eyed Spy,
Marc Almond,
Gichy Dan,
Suburban Knight,
Blancmange,
Jeru the Damaja,
Can,
The Monochrome Set,
Peter & Gordon,
Bobby Hutcherson, Bobby Hutcherson, Bobby Hutcherson, Bobby Hutcherson.
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.