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 Cameroon and from Shanghai.
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 1969 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 synthesizer 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 Sun Ra Arkestra to the funk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Mars. All the underground hits.
All Harry Pussy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kaleidoscope 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nas record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lou Reed,
Symarip,
Zero Boys,
Jacob Miller,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Nation of Ulysses,
Gang Gang Dance,
R.M.O.,
FM Einheit,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Cameo,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Lyres,
Kayak,
Grandmaster Flash,
Piero Umiliani,
Gichy Dan,
The Fall,
Bauhaus,
The Star Department,
Gil Scott Heron,
Subhumans,
Sällskapet,
Letta Mbulu,
Joy Division,
Aural Exciters,
The Monochrome Set,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Selecter,
Kool Moe Dee,
Ultimate Spinach,
Icehouse,
The Wake,
Theoretical Girls,
Hardrive,
Qualms,
Yusef Lateef,
Barrington Levy,
Black Bananas,
The Gap Band,
The Pop Group,
Minny Pops,
X-Ray Spex,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Young Rascals,
Maleditus Sound,
Derrick Morgan,
the Human League,
Brand Nubian,
Patti Smith,
KRS-One,
the Swans,
The Cramps,
Swans,
Spoonie Gee,
The Five Americans,
Massinfluence,
Ituana,
Althea and Donna,
The Invisible,
Dead Boys,
Yellowson, Yellowson, Yellowson, Yellowson.
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.