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 Lucia and from Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1987.
I was there at the first Nirvana show in Seattle.
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 1966 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 rhodes 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 Gong to the disco kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Sun Ra. All the underground hits.
All Metal Thangz tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Victims 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Art Ensemble Of Chicago record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rekid,
Ralphi Rosario,
Moebius,
Soul Sonic Force,
Bobby Byrd,
48th St. Collective,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Youth Brigade,
Jacob Miller,
X-102,
The Electric Prunes,
Amon Düül,
Boredoms,
The Gories,
World's Most,
Jerry's Kids,
Country Teasers,
Pantytec,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Qualms,
the Slits,
Nils Olav,
Ludus,
Brick,
Fatback Band,
Roy Ayers,
The Dave Clark Five,
Reuben Wilson,
The Doobie Brothers,
Livin' Joy,
Marshall Jefferson,
The Shadows of Knight,
PIL,
Spoonie Gee,
The Blackbyrds,
Aswad,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Sonic Youth,
The Techniques,
The Five Americans,
kango's stein massive,
Lyres,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Peter & Gordon,
Kerri Chandler,
David Axelrod,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
The Knickerbockers,
Model 500,
Robert Görl,
Skriet,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
John Coltrane,
The Stooges,
the Germs,
Lou Christie,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Crash Course in Science,
John Holt,
Shuggie Otis,
Icehouse,
John Lydon,
Scott Walker, Scott Walker, Scott Walker, Scott Walker.
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.