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 Laos and from Mumbai.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Bologna.
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 at the first Suicide practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Freddie Wadling to the grime kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Real Kids. All the underground hits.
All Skarface tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nas 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Johnny Osbourne record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Sonics,
Scientists,
Nik Kershaw,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
The Index,
Eurythmics,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Dead C,
Tubeway Army,
Q65,
A Flock of Seagulls,
A Certain Ratio,
Bootsy Collins,
Kaleidoscope,
The Shadows of Knight,
Brass Construction,
The Cowsills,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Intrusion,
Davy DMX,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Evens,
Morten Harket,
The Stooges,
London Community Gospel Choir,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Tim Buckley,
Funky Four + One,
Scott Walker,
Ralphi Rosario,
Skarface,
Metal Thangz,
Flipper,
Blancmange,
Kurtis Blow,
Jacob Miller,
Kenny Larkin,
Ice-T,
Robert Hood,
The Searchers,
Jawbox,
The Flesh Eaters,
Stockholm Monsters,
Basic Channel,
Sexual Harrassment,
The Divine Comedy,
Circle Jerks,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Johnny Clarke,
Silicon Teens,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Rites of Spring,
The Fugs,
Brick,
Bobby Byrd,
Agitation Free,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Standells,
The Cramps,
The J.B.'s,
Ken Boothe,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Oneida, Oneida, Oneida, Oneida.
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.