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 Swaziland and from Lille.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Chic show in New York.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Qualms to the rap 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 Schoolly D. All the underground hits.
All Arab on Radar tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Derrick Morgan record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 marimba and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Hasil Adkins,
The Fire Engines,
Massinfluence,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Selecter,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Rekid,
Kurtis Blow,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Frankie Knuckles,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Rakim,
Can,
Pulsallama,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Oneida,
The Black Dice,
Swell Maps,
Delta 5,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Davy DMX,
Cal Tjader,
Gichy Dan,
Faraquet,
Jeff Mills,
Archie Shepp,
Carl Craig,
The Saints,
Quantec,
Essential Logic,
Charles Mingus,
Duran Duran,
Derrick May,
Simply Red,
Whodini,
Pet Shop Boys,
Severed Heads,
Animal Collective,
Peter & Gordon,
Bang On A Can,
The Pop Group,
Avey Tare,
Lindisfarne,
LL Cool J,
Peter and Kerry,
Silicon Teens,
Ohio Players,
Scion,
Hashim,
Neil Young,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Jerry's Kids,
Fear,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Junior Murvin,
The Red Krayola,
Ponytail,
Flipper,
Nation of Ulysses,
Moby Grape,
Scan 7,
Lalo Schifrin, Lalo Schifrin, Lalo Schifrin, Lalo Schifrin.
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.