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 Malaysia and from New York.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 organ 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 The Count Five to the rock kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Scientists. All the underground hits.
All Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bang on a Can All-Stars record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a KRS-One record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
8 Eyed Spy,
The Young Rascals,
Circle Jerks,
The Toasters,
Michelle Simonal,
Von Mondo,
The Pop Group,
Radiopuhelimet,
AZ,
Peter and Kerry,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Animal Collective,
Joey Negro,
Ossler,
The Flesh Eaters,
Sonic Youth,
Bob Dylan,
the Fania All-Stars,
Flash Fearless,
The Selecter,
Technova,
Wire,
The Busters,
Flipper,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
The Tremeloes,
Moss Icon,
Nas,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Amazonics,
Gang of Four,
The Velvet Underground,
Underground Resistance,
Grandmaster Flash,
Beasts of Bourbon,
UT,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Soft Machine,
Tommy Roe,
The Happenings,
Arab on Radar,
Arcadia,
Aural Exciters,
Scientists,
Jacques Brel,
T. Rex,
Terrestrial Tones,
The United States of America,
John Coltrane,
the Germs,
Bill Wells,
The Monochrome Set,
Fela Kuti,
Marvin Gaye,
Sunsets and Hearts,
In Retrospect,
Prince Buster,
Leonard Cohen,
The Red Krayola,
Harmonia, Harmonia, Harmonia, Harmonia.
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.