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 Guyana and from Taipei.
But I was there.
I was there in 1987.
I was there at the first Nirvana show in Seattle.
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 1967 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 Donald Fagen 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 Inner City to the rap kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 DNA. All the underground hits.
All Rakim tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every June Days record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Little Man record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Patti Smith,
Unwound,
Gerry Rafferty,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Television,
Scrapy,
Simply Red,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Fatback Band,
The Skatalites,
Althea and Donna,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
EPMD,
Tom Boy,
Rufus Thomas,
China Crisis,
Bluetip,
Crime,
Delon & Dalcan,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Mars,
Gang Green,
Interpol,
Tubeway Army,
The Music Machine,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Ossler,
Magma,
Davy DMX,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
The Pop Group,
The Durutti Column,
The Smiths,
the Human League,
Scientists,
The Young Rascals,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Neu!,
Fat Boys,
Aural Exciters,
Von Mondo,
Camberwell Now,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
MC5,
Prince Buster,
In Retrospect,
K-Klass,
Gregory Isaacs,
Ultra Naté,
The Fall,
Lalann,
One Last Wish,
The Saints,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Bobby Byrd,
Shoche,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Absolute Body Control,
The Beau Brummels,
The Slits,
Harmonia,
Kenny Larkin,
Animal Collective, Animal Collective, Animal Collective, Animal Collective.
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.