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 Austria and from Seoul.
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 1969 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and New York.
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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Bill Near to the grime 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 The Slackers. All the underground hits.
All Eve St. Jones tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pantaleimon 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Yazoo record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sly & The Family Stone,
Drexciya,
Oblivians,
The J.B.'s,
T. Rex,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Johnny Osbourne,
Japan,
The Evens,
Kurtis Blow,
Thee Headcoats,
cv313,
Average White Band,
Bronski Beat,
The Index,
Ornette Coleman,
Alice Coltrane,
The Skatalites,
The Real Kids,
Masters at Work,
Ice-T,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Pop Group,
Minutemen,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The Martian,
Echospace,
X-102,
Radiopuhelimet,
Kool Moe Dee,
Black Sheep,
Black Moon,
The Raincoats,
Fear,
the Swans,
Roxette,
Funkadelic,
Gang Starr,
Anakelly,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Von Mondo,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Wake,
Terrestrial Tones,
Freddie Wadling,
Subhumans,
Bootsy Collins,
Amazonics,
H. Thieme,
Moebius,
U.S. Maple,
The Buckinghams,
Mary Jane Girls,
Saccharine Trust,
Rod Modell,
The Grass Roots,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Little Man,
Pulsallama,
Theoretical Girls,
T.S.O.L.,
Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan.
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.