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 the UAE and from Sao Paulo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 marimba 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 Kool Moe Dee to the rap 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 New Order. All the underground hits.
All Can tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jimmy McGriff 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Eric Dolphy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Barracudas,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Jeff Lynne,
Dennis Brown,
Supertramp,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Kayak,
Stiv Bators,
Leonard Cohen,
KRS-One,
Frankie Knuckles,
Crime,
The Music Machine,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Scion,
Lower 48,
Todd Terry,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Peter and Kerry,
Mary Jane Girls,
The J.B.'s,
John Coltrane,
The Human League,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
The Gladiators,
Bad Manners,
The Detroit Cobras,
Outsiders,
The Pretty Things,
Joensuu 1685,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Wasted Youth,
Skaos,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
48th St. Collective,
David Axelrod,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Slackers,
Scratch Acid,
Infiniti,
Marine Girls,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Flash Fearless,
The Star Department,
The Last Poets,
Bizarre Inc.,
Brand Nubian,
the Germs,
The Real Kids,
Jimmy McGriff,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Absolute Body Control,
Quando Quango,
Kerrie Biddell,
X-101,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Smiths,
Jacques Brel,
Connie Case,
Rapeman,
The Grass Roots,
Dave Gahan,
Funkadelic, Funkadelic, Funkadelic, Funkadelic.
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.