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 Netherlands and from Houston.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1960 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 oboe 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 Sarah Menescal 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 Porter Ricks. All the underground hits.
All The Grass Roots tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Negative Approach record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 synthesizer and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Schoolly D,
Gang Starr,
Soul II Soul,
John Holt,
Kevin Saunderson,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Isaac Hayes,
Metal Thangz,
Bobby Womack,
Echospace,
The Techniques,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Public Enemy,
Arab on Radar,
This Heat,
Lindisfarne,
Ralphi Rosario,
China Crisis,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Moody Blues,
Pantaleimon,
Barry Ungar,
The Blackbyrds,
The Pop Group,
Zero Boys,
Donald Byrd,
Janne Schatter,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Sarah Menescal,
Drexciya,
The Searchers,
Althea and Donna,
Pere Ubu,
Piero Umiliani,
Los Fastidios,
Jerry's Kids,
Quando Quango,
Cheater Slicks,
Grauzone,
Mary Jane Girls,
The United States of America,
Freddie Wadling,
Yusef Lateef,
London Community Gospel Choir,
a-ha,
Aswad,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Zapp,
Crispy Ambulance,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Leaves,
the Soft Cell,
The Knickerbockers,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Monks,
Siglo XX,
OOIOO,
Mo-Dettes,
Hardrive,
FM Einheit,
The Golliwogs,
Sister Nancy, Sister Nancy, Sister Nancy, Sister Nancy.
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.