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 Denmark and from Houston.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1962 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the marimba 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 Technova to the rap 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 Skriet. All the underground hits.
All Gang Green tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Subhumans record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 spring reverb and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Crash Course in Science,
Cameo,
Andrew Hill,
In Retrospect,
Arab on Radar,
The Toasters,
The Vogues,
Tommy Roe,
Severed Heads,
Thompson Twins,
Scott Walker,
Animal Collective,
Yusef Lateef,
Ponytail,
Motorama,
Babytalk,
Rakim,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Television Personalities,
Sound Behaviour,
Harpers Bizarre,
Byron Stingily,
Scion,
K-Klass,
Dark Day,
ABC,
Los Fastidios,
Marc Almond,
Heaven 17,
Guru Guru,
Steve Hackett,
Chrome,
Eric B and Rakim,
Cecil Taylor,
Nick Fraelich,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Electric Prunes,
Reagan Youth,
Black Pus,
Max Romeo,
Eddi Front,
The United States of America,
the Normal,
Barclay James Harvest,
Ice-T,
David Axelrod,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Durutti Column,
Pantaleimon,
Pharoah Sanders,
Technova,
Sight & Sound,
Traffic Nightmare,
Fat Boys,
Urselle,
Schoolly D,
Hasil Adkins,
The Moleskins,
Funky Four + One,
Main Source,
Bob Dylan,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Isaac Hayes,
Eyeless In Gaza, Eyeless In Gaza, Eyeless In Gaza, Eyeless In Gaza.
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.