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 Yemen and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 Tom Verlaine 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 Mr. Review 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 Gerry Rafferty. All the underground hits.
All OOIOO tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Dave Clark Five 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Real Kids record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Idris Muhammad,
Y Pants,
Malaria!,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Man Eating Sloth,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Al Stewart,
Bill Wells,
Max Romeo,
Joey Negro,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Todd Rundgren,
Alton Ellis,
cv313,
Kayak,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The J.B.'s,
Hoover,
Matthew Bourne,
Warren Ellis,
The Associates,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Second Layer,
Jacques Brel,
Drexciya,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Deepchord,
Whodini,
Television,
Siglo XX,
Joensuu 1685,
Toni Rubio,
The Happenings,
Funky Four + One,
The Litter,
Derrick Morgan,
Can,
Mr. Review,
Blossom Toes,
Lalo Schifrin,
K-Klass,
Colin Newman,
X-101,
Ralphi Rosario,
the Association,
Reuben Wilson,
Gong,
Unwound,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Marmalade,
Fad Gadget,
Agent Orange,
UT,
Zero Boys,
the Sonics,
The Five Americans,
The United States of America,
ABBA,
The Wake,
The Electric Prunes,
Duran Duran,
Ronnie Foster, Ronnie Foster, Ronnie Foster, Ronnie Foster.
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.