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 Korea North and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1980.
I was there at the first Cybotron show in Detroit.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City 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 808 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 Kayak to the funk kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Archie Shepp. All the underground hits.
All The Fugs tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Dorothy Ashby 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ash Ra Tempel record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Con Funk Shun,
Agitation Free,
Bob Dylan,
Robert Görl,
Fela Kuti,
Brothers Johnson,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Moby Grape,
Swell Maps,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Steve Hackett,
Accadde A,
Sällskapet,
The Doobie Brothers,
Supertramp,
Metal Thangz,
Flash Fearless,
Simply Red,
EPMD,
The Cosmic Jokers,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Young Rascals,
Radiohead,
Roy Ayers,
The Happenings,
Black Flag,
Zapp,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Slits,
Howard Jones,
Unrelated Segments,
Funkadelic,
Piero Umiliani,
The Offenders,
Harry Pussy,
Janne Schatter,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Technova,
D'Angelo,
Deepchord,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
The Golliwogs,
The Red Krayola,
Judy Mowatt,
Kaleidoscope,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
X-102,
the Soft Cell,
The Toasters,
Von Mondo,
Joyce Sims,
Davy DMX,
Althea and Donna,
Eden Ahbez,
X-Ray Spex,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The Birthday Party,
Scratch Acid,
Make Up,
Scrapy, Scrapy, Scrapy, Scrapy.
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.