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 Algeria and from Beijing.
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 1969 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Jimmy McGriff to the rap kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Half Japanese. All the underground hits.
All Neil Young & Crazy Horse tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rotary Connection record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Soul II Soul record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Schoolly D,
Unrelated Segments,
Supertramp,
Curtis Mayfield,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Ultra Naté,
Yellowson,
Monks,
Quadrant,
Thompson Twins,
Letta Mbulu,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Bad Manners,
The Tremeloes,
The Young Rascals,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
The Kinks,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Big Daddy Kane,
Agitation Free,
Lightning Bolt,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
This Heat,
Juan Atkins,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Crash Course in Science,
F. McDonald,
The Stooges,
The Modern Lovers,
KRS-One,
Newcleus,
The Busters,
Kurtis Blow,
Todd Terry,
The Fall,
Rotary Connection,
Crispian St. Peters,
PIL,
Half Japanese,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Bauhaus,
Sonny Sharrock,
Outsiders,
Stiv Bators,
Joensuu 1685,
The Alarm Clocks,
Index,
The Star Department,
X-Ray Spex,
Sonic Youth,
The Index,
David McCallum,
The J.B.'s,
Circle Jerks,
Junior Murvin,
Interpol,
Joyce Sims,
kango's stein massive,
Rites of Spring,
The Red Krayola, The Red Krayola, The Red Krayola, The Red Krayola.
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.