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 Nicaragua and from Johannesburg.
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 1966 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 Lou Reed 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 Mary Jane Girls to the rap kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Big Daddy Kane. All the underground hits.
All Roy Ayers Ubiquity tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Letta Mbulu record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 marimba and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a John Foxx record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Ultimate Spinach,
The Selecter,
Excepter,
The Electric Prunes,
The Cowsills,
Ten City,
Flipper,
Marine Girls,
Alton Ellis,
Kevin Saunderson,
The Alarm Clocks,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
R.M.O.,
Chrome,
Angry Samoans,
The Slits,
Roy Ayers,
Cameo,
Connie Case,
Sight & Sound,
The Litter,
The New Christs,
Eddi Front,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Fuzztones,
Idris Muhammad,
Intrusion,
Anthony Braxton,
Slave,
Animal Collective,
Chris & Cosey,
Negative Approach,
Half Japanese,
Gichy Dan,
Jerry Gold Smith,
John Foxx,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Max Romeo,
Absolute Body Control,
E-Dancer,
Deadbeat,
Wings,
Alice Coltrane,
Radiopuhelimet,
Jerry's Kids,
Delta 5,
Von Mondo,
Zero Boys,
Smog,
JFA,
Cecil Taylor,
Ossler,
Saccharine Trust,
Lalann,
Byron Stingily,
Ituana,
Marmalade,
One Last Wish,
Tommy Roe,
Bush Tetras, Bush Tetras, Bush Tetras, Bush Tetras.
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.