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 Latvia and from Mumbai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell to the funk 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 Moby Grape. All the underground hits.
All Be Bop Deluxe tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Glenn Branca 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jacques Brel record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Dead C,
Pharoah Sanders,
Grauzone,
The Kinks,
Ultra Naté,
Magma,
Supertramp,
Crime,
Suburban Knight,
Fluxion,
Swans,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Gun Club,
Deepchord,
Chris Corsano,
Vladislav Delay,
Donald Byrd,
The Blackbyrds,
Tom Boy,
Hoover,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Lindisfarne,
Kaleidoscope,
Television Personalities,
Swell Maps,
Nas,
Faraquet,
Infiniti,
Lalo Schifrin,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Simply Red,
Accadde A,
The Raincoats,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Patti Smith,
Lou Christie,
Ronan,
Ken Boothe,
Scientists,
AZ,
Bronski Beat,
Symarip,
Man Parrish,
Basic Channel,
John Foxx,
Rites of Spring,
the Germs,
Nico,
Anakelly,
The Five Americans,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Ice-T,
Idris Muhammad,
Boogie Down Productions,
Can,
DNA,
Organ,
The Divine Comedy,
Banda Bassotti, Banda Bassotti, Banda Bassotti, Banda Bassotti.
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.