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 Jamaica and from Lille.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1965 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 organ 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 Livin' Joy to the techno 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 Ralphi Rosario. All the underground hits.
All Rosa Yemen tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every EPMD 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sunsets and Hearts record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Parry Music,
Lalo Schifrin,
Eurythmics,
The Slits,
Neil Young,
Ornette Coleman,
Todd Terry,
Hashim,
Eric B and Rakim,
Alison Limerick,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
U.S. Maple,
Grey Daturas,
Grauzone,
Main Source,
Faraquet,
Crooked Eye,
The Star Department,
Soul Sonic Force,
Pagans,
Roy Ayers,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
LL Cool J,
The Human League,
Rekid,
Sex Pistols,
Johnny Clarke,
Tommy Roe,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Radio Birdman,
Mary Jane Girls,
Todd Rundgren,
The Cowsills,
The Skatalites,
Little Man,
Ultravox,
Los Fastidios,
Television Personalities,
Crime,
Warren Ellis,
Inner City,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
MC5,
The Shadows of Knight,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Kaleidoscope,
Chris & Cosey,
48th St. Collective,
Mad Mike,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Black Dice,
Albert Ayler,
Infiniti,
Agitation Free,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
The Victims,
The Moody Blues,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Detroit Cobras,
Mantronix, Mantronix, Mantronix, Mantronix.
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.