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 Botswana and from Winnipeg.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Todd Terry to the electroclash 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 Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience. All the underground hits.
All Groovy Waters tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Kinks 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 güiro and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a ABBA record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Joe Finger,
The Five Americans,
Wally Richardson,
The Music Machine,
Gang of Four,
Derrick May,
Kayak,
Banda Bassotti,
Cameo,
Jandek,
Sun City Girls,
Subhumans,
The Residents,
The Remains,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Big Daddy Kane,
Henry Cow,
Scion,
Average White Band,
Bobby Womack,
Danielle Patucci,
Eden Ahbez,
Traffic Nightmare,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Quantec,
Arcadia,
The Barracudas,
Young Marble Giants,
Technova,
The Doors,
Todd Rundgren,
OOIOO,
The Smiths,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Rosa Yemen,
Marvin Gaye,
The Invisible,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Groovy Waters,
Stockholm Monsters,
Adolescents,
Pantytec,
X-101,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Reagan Youth,
Ohio Players,
Ituana,
Amazonics,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Bush Tetras,
Nick Fraelich,
The Slits,
Tim Buckley,
Dawn Penn,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Public Image Ltd.,
Country Teasers,
Public Enemy,
Echospace,
Liliput,
The Sonics,
Minutemen,
Marmalade, Marmalade, Marmalade, Marmalade.
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.