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 Libya and from Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1976 at the first Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Heavy D & The Boyz to the grunge 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 Barrington Levy. All the underground hits.
All Archie Shepp tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Charles Mingus 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Amazonics record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Agitation Free,
Monks,
Talk Talk,
David Axelrod,
The Electric Prunes,
Jeff Lynne,
Delon & Dalcan,
Kool Moe Dee,
Eddi Front,
Malaria!,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Kerri Chandler,
the Normal,
Trumans Water,
Silicon Teens,
Franke,
Second Layer,
Donny Hathaway,
June of 44,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Negative Approach,
The Saints,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Pussy Galore,
Index,
Dual Sessions,
Funkadelic,
Jawbox,
The Cure,
Mars,
Skarface,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Black Moon,
The Misunderstood,
The Motions,
Albert Ayler,
MC5,
Sixth Finger,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Suburban Knight,
Nas,
In Retrospect,
Adolescents,
Magma,
Howard Jones,
Todd Rundgren,
the Slits,
The Monochrome Set,
Subhumans,
Intrusion,
Harmonia,
Loose Ends,
Michelle Simonal,
Scratch Acid,
Bush Tetras,
Laurel Aitken,
Cal Tjader,
Ten City,
Al Stewart,
Slick Rick,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Yaz, Yaz, Yaz, Yaz.
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.