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 Mozambique 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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 1976 at the first Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Ronnie Foster to the crunk 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 Cameo. All the underground hits.
All Tom Boy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Suburban Knight 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rosa Yemen record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Grandmaster Flash,
8 Eyed Spy,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Slick Rick,
The Index,
FM Einheit,
Sparks,
Blake Baxter,
Bobby Womack,
Excepter,
Rosa Yemen,
The Mummies,
Albert Ayler,
Bauhaus,
Von Mondo,
Bobby Byrd,
Alton Ellis,
T. Rex,
The Moody Blues,
The Zeros,
D'Angelo,
Pulsallama,
Silicon Teens,
LL Cool J,
Public Enemy,
Suburban Knight,
Girls At Our Best!,
Matthew Bourne,
Quantec,
The United States of America,
Cal Tjader,
AZ,
Joy Division,
The Misunderstood,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Jandek,
Tubeway Army,
The Dirtbombs,
The Sonics,
The Pretty Things,
Sällskapet,
Thompson Twins,
Harry Pussy,
Rapeman,
Dennis Brown,
Brass Construction,
Aural Exciters,
Mary Jane Girls,
Sonny Sharrock,
Pylon,
Mandrill,
Nas,
Deepchord,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Infiniti,
John Coltrane,
Ohio Players,
The Doors,
Liliput,
Angry Samoans,
Aswad, Aswad, Aswad, Aswad.
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.