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 Malawi and from Copenhagen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1973.
I was there at the first Television 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 1961 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 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 Surgeon to the crunk 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 Amon Düül II. All the underground hits.
All Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Television record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Hasil Adkins record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Mr. Review,
Barrington Levy,
Franke,
John Coltrane,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Surgeon,
Oblivians,
June Days,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
La Düsseldorf,
Magazine,
Procol Harum,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Pere Ubu,
Grey Daturas,
Alice Coltrane,
The Gun Club,
Bobby Byrd,
Pharoah Sanders,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Khruangbin,
Aural Exciters,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Jesper Dahlback,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Funkadelic,
Shoche,
Bauhaus,
The J.B.'s,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Audionom,
Kurtis Blow,
Curtis Mayfield,
D'Angelo,
Sight & Sound,
The Fortunes,
Electric Prunes,
Dorothy Ashby,
Outsiders,
Kerri Chandler,
Television Personalities,
The Alarm Clocks,
Technova,
DNA,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Los Fastidios,
Lightning Bolt,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
The Cure,
Robert Görl,
Fear,
MDC,
Ken Boothe,
B.T. Express,
Warsaw,
The Mummies,
Nick Fraelich,
Nas,
the Fania All-Stars,
Thompson Twins,
Joe Finger, Joe Finger, Joe Finger, Joe Finger.
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.