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 Afghanistan and from Philadelphia.
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 1966 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 the Germs to the techno kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Sixth Finger. All the underground hits.
All The Star Department tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Juan Atkins record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Charles Mingus record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Mission of Burma,
Sugar Minott,
The Mojo Men,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Japan,
Nils Olav,
Albert Ayler,
Joey Negro,
Black Pus,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Dual Sessions,
R.M.O.,
Soulsonic Force,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Pere Ubu,
Barrington Levy,
Eurythmics,
Hasil Adkins,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Interpol,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Todd Rundgren,
Newcleus,
Bobby Byrd,
The Fortunes,
EPMD,
Lightning Bolt,
Funky Four + One,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
JFA,
The American Breed,
The New Christs,
The Sonics,
Minny Pops,
Robert Wyatt,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Harmonia,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Basic Channel,
Stockholm Monsters,
Desert Stars,
Stetsasonic,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Amazonics,
China Crisis,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Television,
The Doors,
Skriet,
Cal Tjader,
The Zeros,
The Star Department,
Yazoo,
Gastr Del Sol,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Terry Callier,
Boogie Down Productions,
David McCallum, David McCallum, David McCallum, David McCallum.
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.