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 Mali and from Paris.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez 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 1960 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 marimba 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 The Skatalites to the crunk 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 Harmonia. All the underground hits.
All The Slits tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Circle Jerks 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Eric Copeland,
The Black Dice,
Essential Logic,
Pantytec,
the Sonics,
Sexual Harrassment,
UT,
Silicon Teens,
Sparks,
Wolf Eyes,
Derrick May,
Y Pants,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Evens,
Symarip,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Dual Sessions,
Dennis Brown,
Idris Muhammad,
Nils Olav,
Archie Shepp,
Camouflage,
Japan,
Crispy Ambulance,
Zero Boys,
Jeff Mills,
Roxy Music,
Lou Christie,
Dark Day,
The J.B.'s,
Erykah Badu,
Scion,
The Litter,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Lalann,
The Modern Lovers,
Black Bananas,
Dead Boys,
The Angels of Light,
kango's stein massive,
Reuben Wilson,
Tres Demented,
Lightning Bolt,
The Toasters,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
David Axelrod,
The Martian,
Pet Shop Boys,
Schoolly D,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Jawbox,
X-102,
Cymande,
the Germs,
U.S. Maple,
Anthony Braxton,
James White and The Blacks,
The Offenders,
DJ Style,
Tubeway Army,
The Vogues,
Organ,
Fad Gadget,
Subhumans, Subhumans, Subhumans, Subhumans.
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.