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 Libya and from Tehran.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 linndrum 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 Moby Grape to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Curtis Mayfield. All the underground hits.
All Rites of Spring tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Accadde A 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Soul II Soul record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe 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 Moleskins,
Ituana,
T.S.O.L.,
Sällskapet,
China Crisis,
Freddie Wadling,
The Dirtbombs,
Lou Reed,
The J.B.'s,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Invisible,
The Grass Roots,
Pulsallama,
Unrelated Segments,
Unwound,
The Black Dice,
The Young Rascals,
Archie Shepp,
Brothers Johnson,
Desert Stars,
Arab on Radar,
Vainqueur,
Derrick Morgan,
Magma,
Kurtis Blow,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Drexciya,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Moebius,
The Techniques,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Ornette Coleman,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Scratch Acid,
Janne Schatter,
Amon Düül,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Toasters,
Eve St. Jones,
Terrestrial Tones,
Whodini,
Amazonics,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Rekid,
Howard Jones,
L. Decosne,
Massinfluence,
Pagans,
Monks,
The Five Americans,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Mission of Burma,
Sam Rivers,
Theoretical Girls,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Supertramp,
Moss Icon,
The Mojo Men,
The Pop Group,
PIL,
Swans,
Marvin Gaye,
Bang on a Can All-Stars, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Bang on a Can All-Stars.
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.