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 St Kitts & Nevis and from Accra.
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 1961 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 marimba 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 Kevin Saunderson to the funk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Art Ensemble Of Chicago. All the underground hits.
All Ajijia Myrayebe tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Marshall Jefferson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Excepter,
Harry Pussy,
Simply Red,
Swell Maps,
The Associates,
D'Angelo,
Slave,
Matthew Halsall,
Man Eating Sloth,
Guru Guru,
Boogie Down Productions,
Little Man,
Chris & Cosey,
The Grass Roots,
The Saints,
Joey Negro,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Nation of Ulysses,
Country Teasers,
Erykah Badu,
The Evens,
The Gladiators,
the Sonics,
Supertramp,
Soft Machine,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Crime,
John Lydon,
Monolake,
Absolute Body Control,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Sonics,
Jawbox,
Archie Shepp,
Bill Wells,
Brand Nubian,
Scott Walker,
Tres Demented,
Marvin Gaye,
Masters at Work,
E-Dancer,
Ronnie Foster,
Warsaw,
Hoover,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Blake Baxter,
Scientists,
MDC,
Adolescents,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Man Parrish,
Toni Rubio,
Brick,
Tom Boy,
The Smiths,
The Doors,
Hot Snakes,
The Zeros,
Grandmaster Flash,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Loose Ends, Loose Ends, Loose Ends, Loose Ends.
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.