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 Guatemala and from Beijing.
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 1963 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 2001 at the first Tiga practice in a loft in Montreal.
I was working on the sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Barclay James Harvest to the disco 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 Larry & the Blue Notes. All the underground hits.
All The Smoke tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Hashim record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Smiths record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kerri Chandler,
Siglo XX,
Curtis Mayfield,
Erykah Badu,
Public Image Ltd.,
Glenn Branca,
Niagra,
EPMD,
Faraquet,
Ultra Naté,
Khruangbin,
Deepchord,
Neu!,
Y Pants,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Todd Terry,
Unwound,
Unrelated Segments,
Rosa Yemen,
Marine Girls,
The Blackbyrds,
Nico,
Roy Ayers,
Heaven 17,
Yellowson,
Ralphi Rosario,
JFA,
Amazonics,
Chris & Cosey,
Au Pairs,
Joy Division,
Rapeman,
Bush Tetras,
Loose Ends,
Anthony Braxton,
the Sonics,
Nation of Ulysses,
Mandrill,
John Holt,
The Velvet Underground,
Boz Scaggs,
Traffic Nightmare,
The Flesh Eaters,
John Lydon,
Barry Ungar,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Fugazi,
Jimmy McGriff,
Arab on Radar,
David McCallum,
Gichy Dan,
Masters at Work,
Flamin' Groovies,
Bill Wells,
Crispian St. Peters,
Gastr Del Sol,
A Certain Ratio,
Lou Christie,
The Slackers, The Slackers, The Slackers, The Slackers.
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.