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 Bahrain and from Houston.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Tommy Roe to the rap kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 These Immortal Souls. All the underground hits.
All Sun Ra tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Skatalites record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sugar Minott record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Human League,
Anthony Braxton,
Jeff Lynne,
Underground Resistance,
Magazine,
Radio Birdman,
Grey Daturas,
Gabor Szabo,
Scion,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Skaos,
Kas Product,
Dorothy Ashby,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Lakeside,
DNA,
Isaac Hayes,
Au Pairs,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Pole,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Birthday Party,
Severed Heads,
Yaz,
Quando Quango,
Unrelated Segments,
The Cramps,
Tom Boy,
Robert Wyatt,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Black Bananas,
the Sonics,
Michelle Simonal,
The New Christs,
Siglo XX,
Sexual Harrassment,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Accadde A,
Althea and Donna,
The Gladiators,
Guru Guru,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Iggy Pop,
Metal Thangz,
Adolescents,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Gang Starr,
Black Flag,
Delon & Dalcan,
Television,
Albert Ayler,
Lightning Bolt,
Crispian St. Peters,
Grandmaster Flash,
Blake Baxter,
Animal Collective,
MDC,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Lou Reed,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Ossler, Ossler, Ossler, Ossler.
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.