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 Uzbekistan and from Paris.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1968 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 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 The Mighty Diamonds to the rock 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 Oppenheimer Analysis. All the underground hits.
All Boogie Down Productions tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Manfred Mann's Earth Band record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ohio Players record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Blake Baxter,
Brass Construction,
Thee Headcoats,
Sex Pistols,
Aswad,
Second Layer,
the Human League,
U.S. Maple,
Funkadelic,
Gastr Del Sol,
The Alarm Clocks,
Marcia Griffiths,
JFA,
Rhythm & Sound,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Dennis Brown,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Jandek,
Wasted Youth,
The Moleskins,
The Angels of Light,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Traffic Nightmare,
Kaleidoscope,
Flamin' Groovies,
Gang Starr,
Pulsallama,
David Axelrod,
D'Angelo,
Scrapy,
Essential Logic,
OOIOO,
Jesper Dahlback,
Grandmaster Flash,
In Retrospect,
Eurythmics,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Walker Brothers,
Easy Going,
Scott Walker,
Dark Day,
Alice Coltrane,
Beasts of Bourbon,
New York Dolls,
Brothers Johnson,
Steve Hackett,
Glenn Branca,
The Leaves,
Harpers Bizarre,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Young Marble Giants,
Eric Copeland,
The Birthday Party,
Index,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Pantytec,
The Wake,
Drive Like Jehu,
Basic Channel,
Lalann,
Quando Quango,
The Fire Engines,
Faraquet, Faraquet, Faraquet, Faraquet.
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.