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 Niger and from Spokane.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Chic show in New York.
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 1967 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 Captain Beefheart 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 Offenders to the funk 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 Slave. All the underground hits.
All Letta Mbulu tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Marshall Jefferson record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Josef K record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Das Ding,
the Human League,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Slits,
Maurizio,
the Swans,
Kerri Chandler,
Yusef Lateef,
The Red Krayola,
Con Funk Shun,
UT,
The New Christs,
Cymande,
Mantronix,
Barclay James Harvest,
Quadrant,
Stiv Bators,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Sparks,
Masters at Work,
a-ha,
The Sound,
Nirvana,
New Age Steppers,
T. Rex,
Marvin Gaye,
Shuggie Otis,
Sam Rivers,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Urselle,
Brothers Johnson,
Cluster,
Sexual Harrassment,
The Fortunes,
Johnny Osbourne,
Michelle Simonal,
Marcia Griffiths,
Minor Threat,
Neu!,
Panda Bear,
Barrington Levy,
The United States of America,
ABC,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Parry Music,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
X-101,
X-Ray Spex,
Electric Prunes,
Lebanon Hanover,
U.S. Maple,
Gang Starr,
Black Sheep,
Cybotron,
Zero Boys,
Sixth Finger,
Monolake,
The Offenders,
The Motions,
These Immortal Souls,
Agitation Free,
The Mighty Diamonds, The Mighty Diamonds, The Mighty Diamonds, The Mighty Diamonds.
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.