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 Ghana and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1964 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Seeds to the funk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Alton Ellis. All the underground hits.
All John Coltrane tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Roy Ayers 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Cheater Slicks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Johnny Clarke,
Jeru the Damaja,
Groovy Waters,
Das Ding,
Amon Düül,
Kas Product,
Ralphi Rosario,
Simply Red,
Bobby Womack,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Rufus Thomas,
Dark Day,
Glambeats Corp.,
Cheater Slicks,
The Searchers,
Eric Copeland,
Zero Boys,
Subhumans,
Ice-T,
The Associates,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Hardrive,
Magma,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Audionom,
Idris Muhammad,
Tropical Tobacco,
Wire,
June of 44,
Dawn Penn,
The Index,
The Last Poets,
Circle Jerks,
The Pretty Things,
Toni Rubio,
New Age Steppers,
Fear,
The Barracudas,
Roxette,
Ohio Players,
Iggy Pop,
Siglo XX,
Intrusion,
The Misunderstood,
Bill Near,
Tommy Roe,
The Kinks,
Radio Birdman,
Thompson Twins,
Bill Wells,
Judy Mowatt,
The Slackers,
Soul Sonic Force,
PIL,
Tom Boy,
The Gap Band,
Country Teasers,
Chris Corsano,
a-ha,
Funkadelic,
Newcleus,
Derrick Morgan,
Sly & The Family Stone, Sly & The Family Stone, Sly & The Family Stone, Sly & The Family Stone.
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.