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 Seychelles and from Calgary.
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 1961 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 güiro 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 Country Teasers to the dance kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Chris Corsano. All the underground hits.
All Gil Scott Heron tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Doobie Brothers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 a snare and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Glenn Branca record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Whodini,
Tres Demented,
Tim Buckley,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Crash Course in Science,
Faraquet,
Mantronix,
Avey Tare,
Bobby Womack,
Bill Near,
The Offenders,
Buzzcocks,
Eli Mardock,
Aaron Thompson,
Shuggie Otis,
Arthur Verocai,
Fat Boys,
Blancmange,
The Durutti Column,
The Grass Roots,
Wasted Youth,
Boogie Down Productions,
Funkadelic,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Skaos,
Sight & Sound,
David Axelrod,
Sun Ra,
Barrington Levy,
The Last Poets,
Tears for Fears,
Blossom Toes,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Camouflage,
The Doors,
Reuben Wilson,
Yazoo,
the Human League,
Amon Düül,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Lightning Bolt,
Joensuu 1685,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Delon & Dalcan,
Derrick May,
Minor Threat,
Leonard Cohen,
June of 44,
Isaac Hayes,
In Retrospect,
Henry Cow,
Index,
Cheater Slicks,
The Gun Club,
Davy DMX,
Public Image Ltd.,
Little Man,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Harry Pussy,
The Selecter,
The Vogues,
Marmalade,
Scrapy,
The Alarm Clocks, The Alarm Clocks, The Alarm Clocks, The Alarm Clocks.
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.