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 Nigeria and from Glasgow.
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 1968 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 mellotron 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 Rod Modell to the dance 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 Lafayette Afro Rock Band. All the underground hits.
All Judy Mowatt tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Buzzcocks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nick Fraelich record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Graham Central Station,
The Grass Roots,
Yaz,
Erasure,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Brass Construction,
Inner City,
Public Image Ltd.,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Sarah Menescal,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Cecil Taylor,
Blake Baxter,
Schoolly D,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Whodini,
The Fall,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Lindisfarne,
the Fania All-Stars,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
the Germs,
Gabor Szabo,
Guru Guru,
Mars,
The Wake,
Average White Band,
The Seeds,
Neil Young,
Mission of Burma,
Fluxion,
The Count Five,
Grandmaster Flash,
Cheater Slicks,
The Pretty Things,
The Neon Judgement,
The Sonics,
The Smoke,
Vladislav Delay,
Peter & Gordon,
Sonic Youth,
Carl Craig,
Gichy Dan,
Robert Hood,
The Dave Clark Five,
Rosa Yemen,
Jawbox,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Deakin,
Kenny Larkin,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Parry Music,
Dark Day,
Theoretical Girls,
Johnny Osbourne,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Traffic Nightmare,
Scott Walker,
Sister Nancy,
Liliput,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Albert Ayler, Albert Ayler, Albert Ayler, Albert Ayler.
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.