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 Switzerland and from Lyon.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 De La Soul & Jungle Brothers. All the underground hits.
All The Men They Couldn't Hang tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Vainqueur record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 clarinet and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Severed Heads record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Aural Exciters,
The Blues Magoos,
Excepter,
Cal Tjader,
Thompson Twins,
Max Romeo,
Maurizio,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Patti Smith,
DJ Sneak,
Monks,
the Germs,
Dennis Brown,
Joensuu 1685,
Cheater Slicks,
Idris Muhammad,
Godley & Creme,
DJ Style,
Swell Maps,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Newcleus,
Angry Samoans,
The Knickerbockers,
The Cure,
World's Most,
Accadde A,
The Standells,
Glambeats Corp.,
Underground Resistance,
Echospace,
Todd Terry,
Subhumans,
Ultra Naté,
Whodini,
Alphaville,
Khruangbin,
Tubeway Army,
Robert Hood,
Glenn Branca,
Essential Logic,
Franke,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Victims,
LL Cool J,
Grey Daturas,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Bob Dylan,
Television,
Ice-T,
Quando Quango,
Rakim,
The Fuzztones,
The Kinks,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
New York Dolls,
X-Ray Spex,
Leonard Cohen,
Letta Mbulu,
Crispian St. Peters,
Bootsy Collins, Bootsy Collins, Bootsy Collins, Bootsy Collins.
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.