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 Bahrain and from Winnipeg.
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 1969 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 organ 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 Ohio Players to the funk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Tropical Tobacco. All the underground hits.
All Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Darondo record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Hashim record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Godley & Creme,
Porter Ricks,
X-Ray Spex,
Neil Young,
Lalo Schifrin,
Bronski Beat,
Circle Jerks,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Shoche,
Japan,
Fluxion,
Soul Sonic Force,
Dawn Penn,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
The Last Poets,
Sight & Sound,
The Names,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Stetsasonic,
Erasure,
Marine Girls,
Babytalk,
Sister Nancy,
Roxette,
Angry Samoans,
Barbara Tucker,
Echospace,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
the Human League,
Goldenarms,
Thee Headcoats,
Nas,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Hasil Adkins,
The Seeds,
The Sound,
The Gladiators,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Blancmange,
Negative Approach,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Desert Stars,
Severed Heads,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Masters at Work,
Essential Logic,
Pierre Henry,
Laurel Aitken,
The Smiths,
Make Up,
U.S. Maple,
The Gun Club,
Junior Murvin,
Swell Maps,
Motorama,
Gastr Del Sol,
Second Layer,
Arthur Verocai,
Johnny Clarke,
Swans,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Joyce Sims,
Sex Pistols,
Youth Brigade, Youth Brigade, Youth Brigade, Youth Brigade.
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.