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 Kuwait and from Mexico City.
But I was there.
I was there in 2001.
I was there at the first Tiga show in Montreal.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 Magazine to the punk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Unrelated Segments. All the underground hits.
All Big Daddy Kane tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every It's A Beautiful Day 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bobby Sherman record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ohio Players,
Aaron Thompson,
Spoonie Gee,
Sparks,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Metal Thangz,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
The Smiths,
Eric Copeland,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Pulsallama,
China Crisis,
Vainqueur,
The Buckinghams,
Radiohead,
Tropical Tobacco,
Blossom Toes,
Rufus Thomas,
Agitation Free,
Basic Channel,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Fugs,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Bobby Sherman,
Clear Light,
The Fortunes,
Terry Callier,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Hoover,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
The Fall,
Arthur Verocai,
Malaria!,
Fugazi,
Curtis Mayfield,
Erasure,
Underground Resistance,
Television,
Eli Mardock,
The Durutti Column,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Smoke,
Junior Murvin,
Newcleus,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Motions,
Crispy Ambulance,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Seeds,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
the Bar-Kays,
Altered Images,
Fela Kuti,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Tom Boy,
Susan Cadogan,
Porter Ricks,
Stereo Dub,
Wings,
Johnny Osbourne,
Kurtis Blow,
The Move, The Move, The Move, The Move.
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.