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 Vietnam and from Milan.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Halifax 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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Silicon Teens to the disco 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 Khruangbin. All the underground hits.
All Scott Walker tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Red Krayola record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 linndrum and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Last Poets record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Hoover,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Minutemen,
Pharoah Sanders,
Jimmy McGriff,
Terry Callier,
Lee Hazlewood,
Gang Green,
Davy DMX,
Mary Jane Girls,
Eurythmics,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Marshall Jefferson,
Anthony Braxton,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Quadrant,
Skaos,
The Neon Judgement,
James White and The Blacks,
E-Dancer,
Cal Tjader,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Inner City,
Television Personalities,
Lalo Schifrin,
Skarface,
Kevin Saunderson,
The Pretty Things,
Cheater Slicks,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Girls At Our Best!,
Donald Byrd,
Jawbox,
Nils Olav,
Jesper Dahlback,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Faraquet,
Kerri Chandler,
Andrew Hill,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
the Slits,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Shadows of Knight,
R.M.O.,
The Remains,
ABBA,
Niagra,
Donny Hathaway,
Underground Resistance,
OOIOO,
Sparks,
Mad Mike,
Black Moon,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Newcleus,
Jacques Brel,
The Move,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Anakelly,
Joe Finger,
Albert Ayler,
Big Daddy Kane, Big Daddy Kane, Big Daddy Kane, Big Daddy Kane.
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.