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 Congo and from Houston.
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 1969 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Stockholm.
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 arpeggiator 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 Lonnie Liston Smith to the rap kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Curtis Mayfield. All the underground hits.
All Neu! tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gang Starr record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Mummies,
Terrestrial Tones,
Rod Modell,
Lakeside,
Henry Cow,
Graham Central Station,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
X-Ray Spex,
Sonic Youth,
Sexual Harrassment,
the Sonics,
Franke,
Banda Bassotti,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
The Birthday Party,
Scott Walker,
Oblivians,
Iggy Pop,
Public Enemy,
Model 500,
The Cure,
Liliput,
Black Sheep,
Curtis Mayfield,
Wasted Youth,
Angry Samoans,
Young Marble Giants,
Rapeman,
Siglo XX,
The Angels of Light,
Cybotron,
the Fania All-Stars,
Unwound,
Laurel Aitken,
Pere Ubu,
The Litter,
Davy DMX,
Robert Görl,
Marc Almond,
The Sonics,
The Leaves,
Thee Headcoats,
Basic Channel,
The Human League,
Masters at Work,
The Gun Club,
Monks,
Gang Green,
The Cowsills,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Rufus Thomas,
The Five Americans,
Essential Logic,
Piero Umiliani,
Au Pairs,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Lungfish,
Ken Boothe,
Fad Gadget,
B.T. Express,
In Retrospect,
Lucky Dragons, Lucky Dragons, Lucky Dragons, Lucky Dragons.
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.