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 Bolivia and from Delhi.
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 1964 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 organ 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 Sonny Sharrock to the rock kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Spandau Ballet. All the underground hits.
All Ornette Coleman tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Warsaw 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Art Ensemble Of Chicago record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Bar-Kays,
The Grass Roots,
Cymande,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Cramps,
Blancmange,
The Star Department,
Gang Starr,
The Fortunes,
Scratch Acid,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Television,
Dorothy Ashby,
Ituana,
Blake Baxter,
Andrew Hill,
The Stooges,
Aaron Thompson,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Loose Ends,
Gang Green,
Audionom,
Ossler,
Sex Pistols,
World's Most,
Skaos,
Swans,
Lalann,
Fatback Band,
Pussy Galore,
The Misunderstood,
La Düsseldorf,
The Victims,
Chrome,
The Mojo Men,
This Heat,
Mo-Dettes,
Scientists,
Ohio Players,
Thompson Twins,
Tomorrow,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Arab on Radar,
Slick Rick,
Erasure,
Severed Heads,
Dennis Brown,
Pulsallama,
Depeche Mode,
Carl Craig,
Alison Limerick,
Supertramp,
The Doors,
Radiohead,
L. Decosne,
The Dead C,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Sonic Youth,
Camberwell Now,
Deadbeat, Deadbeat, Deadbeat, Deadbeat.
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.