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 Taiwan and from Woodstock.
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 1967 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 chamberlin 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 funk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Mary Jane Girls. All the underground hits.
All David Bowie tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Velvet Underground record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 harpsichord and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Robert Hood record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Neu!,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Malaria!,
The Victims,
Supertramp,
Pagans,
Albert Ayler,
Slave,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Grandmaster Flash,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Cramps,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Jerry Gold Smith,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Inner City,
The Gories,
Kurtis Blow,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Mo-Dettes,
The Pretty Things,
The Moleskins,
Gregory Isaacs,
The United States of America,
David Axelrod,
Donny Hathaway,
The Blackbyrds,
James White and The Blacks,
Frankie Knuckles,
Aaron Thompson,
Lou Christie,
Deepchord,
PIL,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Dirtbombs,
Main Source,
Fluxion,
Half Japanese,
The Gladiators,
OOIOO,
Reagan Youth,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Patti Smith,
MC5,
Y Pants,
Nation of Ulysses,
Sun Ra,
Ohio Players,
Al Stewart,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Dawn Penn,
Rapeman,
Organ,
Andrew Hill,
Zapp,
Siglo XX,
Johnny Clarke,
Monks, Monks, Monks, Monks.
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.