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 Zimbabwe and from Glasgow.
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 1960 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 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 Camouflage to the grime kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Joe Smooth. All the underground hits.
All Can tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Malaria! record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pantaleimon record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Archie Shepp,
Ohio Players,
The Litter,
The Black Dice,
In Retrospect,
Crash Course in Science,
Index,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Matthew Bourne,
Erykah Badu,
A Certain Ratio,
Das Ding,
Unrelated Segments,
Scrapy,
D'Angelo,
Rhythm & Sound,
Marcia Griffiths,
Mad Mike,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Crooked Eye,
Tom Boy,
Surgeon,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Kerri Chandler,
Chrome,
Warsaw,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Red Krayola,
Ponytail,
Jacques Brel,
Absolute Body Control,
Soul Sonic Force,
Black Moon,
Bob Dylan,
Gabor Szabo,
Saccharine Trust,
Yusef Lateef,
Organ,
The Moody Blues,
The Modern Lovers,
the Soft Cell,
The Dirtbombs,
The J.B.'s,
Rotary Connection,
The Kinks,
Eli Mardock,
Minnie Riperton,
The Five Americans,
Ken Boothe,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Velvet Underground,
Dark Day,
Jeff Mills,
Los Fastidios,
Quadrant,
E-Dancer,
Judy Mowatt,
Echospace,
Mr. Review,
Fatback Band,
Bizarre Inc.,
Sly & The Family Stone, Sly & The Family Stone, Sly & The Family Stone, Sly & The Family Stone.
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.