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 St Kitts & Nevis and from Spokane.
But I was there.
I was there in 1980.
I was there at the first Cybotron 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 1967 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 synthesizer 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 Whodini to the rock 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 Kango’s Stein Massive. All the underground hits.
All Bang On A Can tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Teenage Jesus and the Jerks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Flamin' Groovies record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bill Near,
Janne Schatter,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Quadrant,
Gregory Isaacs,
Grey Daturas,
X-102,
The Invisible,
Slave,
Subhumans,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
X-Ray Spex,
Negative Approach,
In Retrospect,
Brand Nubian,
The Last Poets,
Oblivians,
Stetsasonic,
Hoover,
Gerry Rafferty,
Faraquet,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Traffic Nightmare,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Selecter,
The United States of America,
kango's stein massive,
Unrelated Segments,
Gastr Del Sol,
Althea and Donna,
The Residents,
The Fortunes,
U.S. Maple,
Soft Machine,
KRS-One,
Royal Trux,
Hardrive,
Loose Ends,
Lungfish,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Matthew Bourne,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Flamin' Groovies,
Lower 48,
Make Up,
Fluxion,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Gang of Four,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
ABC,
Funky Four + One,
The Associates,
Ornette Coleman,
Rapeman,
New York Dolls, New York Dolls, New York Dolls, New York Dolls.
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.