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 Cape Verde and from Tokyo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 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 Black Sheep to the funk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Outsiders. All the underground hits.
All LL Cool J tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Manfred Mann's Earth Band 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sonny Sharrock record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Television Personalities,
The Detroit Cobras,
Cecil Taylor,
Pantaleimon,
Pere Ubu,
Boredoms,
Scott Walker,
Jandek,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The Evens,
The Dirtbombs,
Gregory Isaacs,
Laurel Aitken,
The Grass Roots,
Cymande,
Agitation Free,
Alison Limerick,
Jimmy McGriff,
Mary Jane Girls,
Barclay James Harvest,
Nik Kershaw,
Crime,
Rites of Spring,
Fad Gadget,
Marcia Griffiths,
Ornette Coleman,
Japan,
Andrew Hill,
Eve St. Jones,
Pharoah Sanders,
New Age Steppers,
Stetsasonic,
June of 44,
Neu!,
The Real Kids,
Supertramp,
The Zeros,
The Standells,
the Sonics,
Fela Kuti,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Silicon Teens,
The Last Poets,
Pagans,
Niagra,
Newcleus,
Dawn Penn,
Kayak,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
The Searchers,
Circle Jerks,
Zero Boys,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Marine Girls,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Los Fastidios,
The Durutti Column,
Althea and Donna,
The Wake,
Essential Logic,
Nas,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
John Coltrane, John Coltrane, John Coltrane, John Coltrane.
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.