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 Equatorial Guinea and from Bremen.
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 1962 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 1976 at the first Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Shuggie Otis to the grunge kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Yusef Lateef. All the underground hits.
All The Black Dice tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Selector Dub Narcotic 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bronski Beat record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Motorama,
Index,
Pulsallama,
8 Eyed Spy,
The Buckinghams,
Slave,
Scrapy,
Shuggie Otis,
Quantec,
Faraquet,
FM Einheit,
Livin' Joy,
These Immortal Souls,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Ohio Players,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Sun Ra,
Kerrie Biddell,
Con Funk Shun,
Minny Pops,
Crime,
Roy Ayers,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Bizarre Inc.,
Sight & Sound,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Moby Grape,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
The Leaves,
Johnny Clarke,
Juan Atkins,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Maurizio,
Big Daddy Kane,
The Smoke,
Underground Resistance,
Warren Ellis,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Suicide,
The Index,
Deepchord,
Kas Product,
X-101,
Gang Gang Dance,
Radiopuhelimet,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Loose Ends,
Cymande,
Smog,
Sound Behaviour,
Carl Craig,
Gang Green,
Heaven 17,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Matthew Bourne,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Jerry's Kids,
Kayak,
This Heat,
Mad Mike,
Scratch Acid, Scratch Acid, Scratch Acid, Scratch Acid.
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.