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 Stockholm.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Funky Four + One 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 Letta Mbulu. All the underground hits.
All Oneida tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Grey Daturas record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 an arpeggiator and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bill Wells record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Offenders,
Rites of Spring,
Robert Görl,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Tropical Tobacco,
U.S. Maple,
Jimmy McGriff,
Donald Byrd,
Gastr Del Sol,
Charles Mingus,
cv313,
Sandy B,
Man Parrish,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Theoretical Girls,
the Soft Cell,
Chrome,
Circle Jerks,
Monks,
Ultimate Spinach,
Sarah Menescal,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Ponytail,
Bootsy Collins,
A Certain Ratio,
Nas,
Marmalade,
Dawn Penn,
The Evens,
Pierre Henry,
Infiniti,
EPMD,
The Modern Lovers,
Grauzone,
Kurtis Blow,
Terrestrial Tones,
Qualms,
Minnie Riperton,
Tom Boy,
Basic Channel,
Blossom Toes,
the Swans,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Alphaville,
Joe Finger,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Maleditus Sound,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Con Funk Shun,
Fear,
New Order,
The Pop Group,
T.S.O.L.,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Lightning Bolt,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Warsaw,
Delon & Dalcan,
Accadde A,
Jacques Brel,
The American Breed, The American Breed, The American Breed, The American Breed.
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.