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 Albania and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1962 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 clarinet 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 The Gories to the jazz 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 Magazine. All the underground hits.
All Lower 48 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every cv313 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jeru the Damaja record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pere Ubu,
Eurythmics,
Cecil Taylor,
The Mojo Men,
Carl Craig,
Bush Tetras,
Y Pants,
Boogie Down Productions,
Average White Band,
Kurtis Blow,
The Grass Roots,
Kayak,
David Axelrod,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Quando Quango,
Rapeman,
Jandek,
The Associates,
The Young Rascals,
The Modern Lovers,
Chris Corsano,
Fort Wilson Riot,
The Remains,
Zapp,
Johnny Osbourne,
Jeru the Damaja,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Amon Düül II,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Isaac Hayes,
Joy Division,
Iggy Pop,
48th St. Collective,
Barbara Tucker,
Excepter,
Black Flag,
The Searchers,
Franke,
The Dead C,
The Fortunes,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Absolute Body Control,
Ituana,
Arcadia,
Negative Approach,
Oneida,
James Chance & The Contortions,
the Human League,
The Monks,
Terrestrial Tones,
Byron Stingily,
Man Parrish,
Tomorrow,
Radio Birdman,
Kas Product,
Agent Orange,
Be Bop Deluxe,
the Association,
Magazine,
Hardrive, Hardrive, Hardrive, Hardrive.
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.