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 Bhutan and from Lyon.
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 1963 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 spring reverb 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 The Misunderstood to the jazz 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 The Pretty Things. All the underground hits.
All Albert Ayler tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sparks 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Marshall Jefferson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Scion,
Supertramp,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Yazoo,
Jacques Brel,
The Smiths,
Jerry's Kids,
Fugazi,
Lightning Bolt,
Throbbing Gristle,
Barry Ungar,
Anakelly,
Reagan Youth,
Model 500,
Pagans,
Boredoms,
Negative Approach,
The Dave Clark Five,
Moby Grape,
The Blues Magoos,
JFA,
Joe Smooth,
Tropical Tobacco,
Arcadia,
The Martian,
Lower 48,
EPMD,
Patti Smith,
Procol Harum,
Brothers Johnson,
Terry Callier,
T. Rex,
Bob Dylan,
Sexual Harrassment,
the Germs,
Thompson Twins,
Man Parrish,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Nas,
The Detroit Cobras,
Absolute Body Control,
Camberwell Now,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Crispy Ambulance,
Pharoah Sanders,
London Community Gospel Choir,
T.S.O.L.,
Organ,
Lou Christie,
Visage,
Radiohead,
June of 44,
Drive Like Jehu,
Echospace,
Neil Young,
Tomorrow,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
U.S. Maple,
Mo-Dettes,
Masters at Work, Masters at Work, Masters at Work, Masters at Work.
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.