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 Bangladesh and from Tehran.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 Winnipeg and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Sonic Youth. All the underground hits.
All Groovy Waters tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every the Bar-Kays record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 808 and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Brass Construction record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Parry Music,
Mantronix,
Roxette,
Hashim,
These Immortal Souls,
Joy Division,
Drexciya,
48th St. Collective,
MC5,
Brick,
Matthew Halsall,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Porter Ricks,
Masters at Work,
Technova,
The Motions,
Bush Tetras,
Joensuu 1685,
Ronnie Foster,
The Misunderstood,
Ultimate Spinach,
The Gories,
Rites of Spring,
Cybotron,
Joe Smooth,
Saccharine Trust,
Gregory Isaacs,
New York Dolls,
The J.B.'s,
Das Ding,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Scratch Acid,
Bauhaus,
Aloha Tigers,
Man Eating Sloth,
Rekid,
The Associates,
Motorama,
X-Ray Spex,
Eve St. Jones,
Leonard Cohen,
the Bar-Kays,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
DJ Style,
Ohio Players,
Arthur Verocai,
Howard Jones,
Model 500,
The Fire Engines,
Aaron Thompson,
Schoolly D,
The Wake,
Ultra Naté,
The Gladiators,
The New Christs,
The Modern Lovers,
Albert Ayler,
The Doobie Brothers,
Mars,
Letta Mbulu,
Von Mondo,
Dead Boys, Dead Boys, Dead Boys, Dead Boys.
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.