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 Japan and from Mumbai.
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 1963 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Glasgow.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 The Offenders to the disco kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Lakeside. All the underground hits.
All James Chance & The Contortions tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Larry & the Blue Notes record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
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 Thee Headcoats record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Sound,
Pulsallama,
Joensuu 1685,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Pole,
The Happenings,
Tom Boy,
Gabor Szabo,
Chrome,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Yellowson,
Reagan Youth,
Johnny Osbourne,
Sight & Sound,
Bang On A Can,
Black Pus,
Barrington Levy,
the Fania All-Stars,
Wally Richardson,
The Techniques,
Max Romeo,
The Electric Prunes,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Names,
Andrew Hill,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Young Rascals,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Glambeats Corp.,
Slick Rick,
Roy Ayers,
Panda Bear,
Marcia Griffiths,
Aloha Tigers,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Gong,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Yaz,
Crooked Eye,
Popol Vuh,
The Fire Engines,
Clear Light,
Deepchord,
Ossler,
Funkadelic,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Wolf Eyes,
Average White Band,
The Monks,
Derrick Morgan,
Juan Atkins,
The Gap Band,
David McCallum,
Little Man,
Moss Icon,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Rites of Spring,
Pagans,
Saccharine Trust,
Rosa Yemen, Rosa Yemen, Rosa Yemen, Rosa Yemen.
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.