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 Norway and from Seoul.
But I was there.
I was there in 2001.
I was there at the first Tiga show in Montreal.
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 1961 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Todd Rundgren to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Jerry Gold Smith. All the underground hits.
All Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Brothers Johnson record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Stereo Dub record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Supertramp,
The Flesh Eaters,
Graham Central Station,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Gang Green,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Slits,
Accadde A,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Kurtis Blow,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Jandek,
Kerri Chandler,
Sam Rivers,
Arthur Verocai,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Jacob Miller,
The Electric Prunes,
Cecil Taylor,
Gang of Four,
Ludus,
Bizarre Inc.,
Crime,
L. Decosne,
Agent Orange,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Terry Callier,
Mad Mike,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Eden Ahbez,
In Retrospect,
the Slits,
LL Cool J,
James White and The Blacks,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Morten Harket,
Aural Exciters,
Siglo XX,
Massinfluence,
Magazine,
Radiopuhelimet,
Little Man,
R.M.O.,
CMW,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Eric B and Rakim,
Grandmaster Flash,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The American Breed,
Judy Mowatt,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Beasts of Bourbon,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Sex Pistols,
Kool Moe Dee,
Soft Machine,
Ice-T,
Mandrill,
The Human League,
The Shadows of Knight,
Sun Ra, Sun Ra, Sun Ra, Sun Ra.
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.