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 Cuba and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1964 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Lower 48 to the funk 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 Radiohead. All the underground hits.
All Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Gap Band 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Unwound record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dawn Penn,
The Detroit Cobras,
Fatback Band,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Gladiators,
Unrelated Segments,
Sällskapet,
Gastr Del Sol,
Don Cherry,
Colin Newman,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Ash Ra Tempel,
The Remains,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Nation of Ulysses,
Royal Trux,
Qualms,
Agitation Free,
The Angels of Light,
Archie Shepp,
Eric Copeland,
Minor Threat,
Bluetip,
Camberwell Now,
Hashim,
Alton Ellis,
David Bowie,
Faust,
Al Stewart,
Groovy Waters,
Television,
Crooked Eye,
Depeche Mode,
Rufus Thomas,
The Dead C,
The Durutti Column,
Black Moon,
Simply Red,
Supertramp,
Nas,
The Happenings,
Echospace,
Freddie Wadling,
Joyce Sims,
AZ,
Ice-T,
The Selecter,
Johnny Clarke,
The Divine Comedy,
Flamin' Groovies,
The Black Dice,
Guru Guru,
Stetsasonic,
DJ Sneak,
David Axelrod,
ABBA,
Donny Hathaway,
Con Funk Shun,
Section 25,
Fear, Fear, Fear, Fear.
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.