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 Liberia and from Calgary.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Chic show in New York.
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 1965 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Roy Ayers Ubiquity to the techno 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 The Toasters. All the underground hits.
All Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Chrome record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Man Parrish record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Mo-Dettes,
Anakelly,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Birthday Party,
Slick Rick,
Tres Demented,
The Five Americans,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
The Zeros,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Standells,
48th St. Collective,
The Music Machine,
Mission of Burma,
Roger Hodgson,
Shuggie Otis,
Jerry's Kids,
Marcia Griffiths,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Althea and Donna,
Yazoo,
Minny Pops,
Alton Ellis,
Magma,
The Move,
The J.B.'s,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
The Blackbyrds,
Grandmaster Flash,
Sexual Harrassment,
Wings,
Matthew Bourne,
Qualms,
Crooked Eye,
In Retrospect,
The Trojans,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Heaven 17,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Average White Band,
Cybotron,
X-101,
Scion,
Agent Orange,
X-102,
The Raincoats,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Grauzone,
The Fuzztones,
Avey Tare,
Gabor Szabo,
Cameo,
The Monochrome Set,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Gang Starr,
Scientists,
Nirvana,
Robert Hood,
Man Parrish,
Sixth Finger, Sixth Finger, Sixth Finger, Sixth Finger.
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.