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 Antigua and from Lyon.
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 1965 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Toronto.
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 marimba 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 Rahsaan Roland Kirk to the disco 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 Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo. All the underground hits.
All The Invisible tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lucky Dragons 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Simply Red record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Mummies,
Anthony Braxton,
Mandrill,
F. McDonald,
Connie Case,
Nas,
The Cure,
Curtis Mayfield,
Amon Düül,
Second Layer,
Cecil Taylor,
Loose Ends,
The Gap Band,
The Move,
KRS-One,
Crooked Eye,
Deakin,
Black Moon,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Michelle Simonal,
Morten Harket,
Dennis Brown,
The Count Five,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Drive Like Jehu,
Yellowson,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Monks,
Steve Hackett,
Amon Düül II,
Sugar Minott,
Ornette Coleman,
The Mighty Diamonds,
The Mojo Men,
Robert Wyatt,
Hardrive,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Andrew Hill,
MDC,
Alice Coltrane,
Johnny Clarke,
Vladislav Delay,
Gang Green,
Black Flag,
H. Thieme,
Lakeside,
Essential Logic,
The Wake,
Technova,
Dark Day,
Tomorrow,
The Slits,
Oneida,
X-102,
Sonny Sharrock,
Inner City,
Graham Central Station,
The Moleskins,
Derrick May,
Maleditus Sound,
Wings,
Bobby Hutcherson, Bobby Hutcherson, Bobby Hutcherson, Bobby Hutcherson.
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.