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 Bangladesh and from Edmonton.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Chic show in New York.
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 Lagos and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 MC5 to the grunge 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 Johnny Clarke. All the underground hits.
All Saccharine Trust tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a 10cc record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ronnie Foster,
Tommy Roe,
the Human League,
Sam Rivers,
Easy Going,
Bobby Byrd,
Los Fastidios,
Eric Copeland,
The Blackbyrds,
Brothers Johnson,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Wasted Youth,
Robert Görl,
Iggy Pop,
Model 500,
Aswad,
Sun City Girls,
Deakin,
The Black Dice,
Darondo,
Jandek,
New Order,
Quando Quango,
The Birthday Party,
Drexciya,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Eve St. Jones,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Roxy Music,
Porter Ricks,
Interpol,
Fifty Foot Hose,
U.S. Maple,
Soft Machine,
Joey Negro,
Ultra Naté,
Fad Gadget,
Ultravox,
The Busters,
Swell Maps,
Arthur Verocai,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Ludus,
the Bar-Kays,
a-ha,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
The Shadows of Knight,
Bauhaus,
Carl Craig,
The Music Machine,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Inner City,
Gong,
The Cowsills,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Nas,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Invisible,
Barclay James Harvest,
Second Layer,
Hoover,
Big Daddy Kane,
Donny Hathaway, Donny Hathaway, Donny Hathaway, Donny Hathaway.
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.