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 Kiribati 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 1963 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Pantytec to the grime 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 Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson. All the underground hits.
All Excepter tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lower 48 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 rhodes and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mary Jane Girls record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
K-Klass,
The Birthday Party,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Albert Ayler,
Steve Hackett,
Reuben Wilson,
The Neon Judgement,
Glenn Branca,
Traffic Nightmare,
Eli Mardock,
Iggy Pop,
Ossler,
Fatback Band,
The Barracudas,
Barry Ungar,
Model 500,
Harpers Bizarre,
Blake Baxter,
AZ,
Kool Moe Dee,
Bootsy Collins,
Amon Düül II,
Gang of Four,
DJ Sneak,
Howard Jones,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Can,
The Sonics,
Marcia Griffiths,
John Cale,
Bob Dylan,
Faust,
a-ha,
Fela Kuti,
Gang Starr,
Skaos,
The Moody Blues,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Shuggie Otis,
Bush Tetras,
The Zeros,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Fall,
48th St. Collective,
Procol Harum,
Glambeats Corp.,
The Toasters,
Black Bananas,
Dark Day,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Cameo,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Nick Fraelich,
Crooked Eye,
Cluster,
Popol Vuh,
Bobby Sherman,
Symarip,
Wings, Wings, Wings, Wings.
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.