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 Afghanistan and from Winnipeg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1962.
I was there at the first Guess Who show in Winnipeg.
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 1965 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Roy Ayers Ubiquity to the funk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 the Bar-Kays. All the underground hits.
All Eric Dolphy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eric Dolphy 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a the Normal record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Newcleus,
The Gladiators,
Radio Birdman,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Searchers,
Essential Logic,
Barrington Levy,
Eddi Front,
Dark Day,
Yellowson,
Dual Sessions,
Sällskapet,
Black Moon,
June of 44,
Harpers Bizarre,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Nils Olav,
Fad Gadget,
Idris Muhammad,
Gong,
Ronnie Foster,
Shuggie Otis,
Young Marble Giants,
Quadrant,
Andrew Hill,
Kas Product,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
KRS-One,
Kurtis Blow,
Bauhaus,
Joe Finger,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Cure,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Organ,
Panda Bear,
Radiohead,
The Gories,
Ultravox,
Patti Smith,
The Music Machine,
Eurythmics,
Swell Maps,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Fugs,
Carl Craig,
F. McDonald,
Gang Green,
Public Image Ltd.,
Pantytec,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Stiv Bators,
the Bar-Kays,
Slick Rick,
Lightning Bolt,
Jacques Brel,
Soulsonic Force,
Supertramp,
Average White Band, Average White Band, Average White Band, Average White Band.
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.