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 Burundi and from Tokyo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1969 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Fugs to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Bang on a Can All-Stars. All the underground hits.
All Chris Corsano tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Wire record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 rhodes and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Traffic Nightmare record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Knickerbockers,
Maurizio,
Oneida,
the Association,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
June of 44,
Television Personalities,
The American Breed,
Max Romeo,
DNA,
The Toasters,
Unrelated Segments,
Warsaw,
Oblivians,
Ohio Players,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Procol Harum,
Eddi Front,
The Happenings,
Mandrill,
Robert Wyatt,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Theoretical Girls,
Public Enemy,
Khruangbin,
Roxette,
Eden Ahbez,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Grandmaster Flash,
Charles Mingus,
Bush Tetras,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Victims,
FM Einheit,
Nico,
Porter Ricks,
Tomorrow,
Man Parrish,
The J.B.'s,
Sandy B,
Essential Logic,
Saccharine Trust,
Funkadelic,
Eric Dolphy,
The Five Americans,
Spoonie Gee,
Nirvana,
Masters at Work,
Minnie Riperton,
Mark Hollis,
Aaron Thompson,
Talk Talk,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Boz Scaggs,
In Retrospect,
Agent Orange,
Cluster,
Zapp,
Sugar Minott,
The Zeros,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Fela Kuti, Fela Kuti, Fela Kuti, Fela Kuti.
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.