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 Chile and from Tokyo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1962 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 The Alarm Clocks to the techno kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Lindisfarne. All the underground hits.
All The Stooges tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Joey Negro record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Wasted Youth record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ponytail,
Half Japanese,
Cheater Slicks,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
MC5,
June Days,
Moby Grape,
Brothers Johnson,
48th St. Collective,
Donald Byrd,
Anthony Braxton,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
DJ Style,
Gang Starr,
Kool Moe Dee,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Das Ding,
Robert Hood,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Be Bop Deluxe,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Andrew Hill,
Agent Orange,
Archie Shepp,
The Modern Lovers,
Sparks,
Brass Construction,
Television,
Barry Ungar,
OOIOO,
John Lydon,
Kayak,
Gabor Szabo,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Flamin' Groovies,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Brick,
Letta Mbulu,
Kenny Larkin,
Shuggie Otis,
AZ,
Grey Daturas,
Nik Kershaw,
Aloha Tigers,
Malaria!,
The Walker Brothers,
Alice Coltrane,
X-101,
The Music Machine,
Erykah Badu,
Pharoah Sanders,
Clear Light,
Eden Ahbez,
Skarface,
EPMD,
Surgeon,
Bobby Byrd,
Isaac Hayes,
A Certain Ratio,
The Toasters,
Pussy Galore,
Index,
Tropical Tobacco, Tropical Tobacco, Tropical Tobacco, Tropical Tobacco.
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.