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 Antigua and from Delhi.
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 1961 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
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 Nick Fraelich to the funk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Pulsallama. All the underground hits.
All David Bowie tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Can record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 sitar and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Andrew Hill record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Yaz,
Scott Walker,
the Swans,
the Germs,
The Star Department,
China Crisis,
Lou Christie,
Absolute Body Control,
This Heat,
Grandmaster Flash,
Swans,
Supertramp,
The Standells,
David Bowie,
Pagans,
Carl Craig,
Roger Hodgson,
Jimmy McGriff,
Marcia Griffiths,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Colin Newman,
The Doobie Brothers,
Byron Stingily,
Big Daddy Kane,
Crispian St. Peters,
Rakim,
OOIOO,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Royal Trux,
Letta Mbulu,
Sällskapet,
Eli Mardock,
Nation of Ulysses,
Maurizio,
Lungfish,
The Dave Clark Five,
Fad Gadget,
Pierre Henry,
Pulsallama,
Shuggie Otis,
Mary Jane Girls,
the Slits,
Albert Ayler,
Derrick Morgan,
Von Mondo,
Desert Stars,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Fatback Band,
Zapp,
Das Ding,
Warren Ellis,
Procol Harum,
Delon & Dalcan,
Sonny Sharrock,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Simply Red,
Juan Atkins,
Hoover,
U.S. Maple,
Kenny Larkin,
Fluxion,
David Axelrod,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
The Slackers, The Slackers, The Slackers, The Slackers.
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.