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 Kuwait and from New York.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 arpeggiator 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 Traffic Nightmare to the dance kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Tubeway Army. All the underground hits.
All June of 44 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Electric Light Orchestra 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 snare and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Heaven 17 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Shuggie Otis,
Kerri Chandler,
Boredoms,
Bluetip,
World's Most,
Scion,
The Birthday Party,
The Five Americans,
Danielle Patucci,
Black Bananas,
Hasil Adkins,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Massinfluence,
Scrapy,
Interpol,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Jimmy McGriff,
Minutemen,
Visage,
Patti Smith,
The Raincoats,
CMW,
Funky Four + One,
The Barracudas,
Glambeats Corp.,
Groovy Waters,
Livin' Joy,
Porter Ricks,
The Searchers,
The Smoke,
The Fuzztones,
Skaos,
The Litter,
Tim Buckley,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Yusef Lateef,
Basic Channel,
Reuben Wilson,
Ituana,
Swell Maps,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Crime,
Malaria!,
These Immortal Souls,
Scratch Acid,
Scientists,
Joe Finger,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Deakin,
Soul II Soul,
Mission of Burma,
Soulsonic Force,
Gang Green,
The Dirtbombs,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Duran Duran,
Banda Bassotti,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Andrew Hill,
Parry Music,
Piero Umiliani,
Prince Buster, Prince Buster, Prince Buster, Prince Buster.
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.