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 Nepal and from Winnipeg.
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 1960 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 808 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 Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Ultimate Spinach. All the underground hits.
All Wolf Eyes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every 48th St. Collective record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 Erykah Badu record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Reagan Youth,
Babytalk,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Rakim,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Symarip,
Half Japanese,
Agent Orange,
The New Christs,
Public Enemy,
The Misunderstood,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Soft Machine,
Radiopuhelimet,
Mary Jane Girls,
The Real Kids,
Brass Construction,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Man Eating Sloth,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Outsiders,
Amon Düül II,
Joensuu 1685,
The Moody Blues,
Quando Quango,
The Divine Comedy,
Sex Pistols,
Sixth Finger,
Kool Moe Dee,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
The Evens,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Fat Boys,
Alice Coltrane,
A Certain Ratio,
In Retrospect,
The Monks,
Oblivians,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Ronnie Foster,
Pole,
Cybotron,
Freddie Wadling,
F. McDonald,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Mantronix,
Severed Heads,
Terry Callier,
Harry Pussy,
The Five Americans,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Cameo,
Camouflage,
Fugazi,
Barry Ungar,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Trojans,
Ken Boothe, Ken Boothe, Ken Boothe, Ken Boothe.
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.