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 Paris.
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 1968 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 1976 at the first Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Gang of Four to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Slave. All the underground hits.
All Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Saccharine Trust 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cecil Taylor,
Kaleidoscope,
The Flesh Eaters,
Suburban Knight,
KRS-One,
Ten City,
Pulsallama,
Tres Demented,
Davy DMX,
Robert Wyatt,
In Retrospect,
The Misunderstood,
The Monks,
Ituana,
The Gories,
Piero Umiliani,
Brick,
AZ,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Con Funk Shun,
The Skatalites,
Aaron Thompson,
Amazonics,
Easy Going,
F. McDonald,
Flipper,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Newcleus,
Siglo XX,
Roxette,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Moby Grape,
Alice Coltrane,
Lucky Dragons,
The Remains,
Essential Logic,
JFA,
Black Flag,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Mummies,
Flamin' Groovies,
Malaria!,
Michelle Simonal,
Banda Bassotti,
Funky Four + One,
Ohio Players,
Black Moon,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Beau Brummels,
Nik Kershaw,
Negative Approach,
Bobby Sherman,
10cc,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Fatback Band,
DNA,
a-ha,
Procol Harum,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Scan 7, Scan 7, Scan 7, Scan 7.
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.