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 Mozambique and from Sao Paulo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Bluetip to the rap kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. All the underground hits.
All The Buckinghams tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gang Green record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lebanon Hanover record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Laurel Aitken,
the Normal,
Stiv Bators,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Grauzone,
Duran Duran,
Spandau Ballet,
Bluetip,
Yusef Lateef,
Fluxion,
Sonny Sharrock,
Sandy B,
Circle Jerks,
Donald Byrd,
Tommy Roe,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
The Remains,
Stockholm Monsters,
Cal Tjader,
Ituana,
Camouflage,
The Barracudas,
Roxette,
Sex Pistols,
Urselle,
Scientists,
The Gap Band,
Brand Nubian,
Wings,
Tropical Tobacco,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Agent Orange,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
The Raincoats,
Arthur Verocai,
10cc,
Crash Course in Science,
Black Bananas,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Radio Birdman,
Soulsonic Force,
Jimmy McGriff,
Sam Rivers,
Oneida,
Todd Rundgren,
Minor Threat,
Stetsasonic,
The Sonics,
Barrington Levy,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Isaac Hayes,
These Immortal Souls,
Janne Schatter,
Jawbox,
The Angels of Light,
Steve Hackett,
Technova,
X-Ray Spex,
Sugar Minott,
Das Ding,
Outsiders, Outsiders, Outsiders, Outsiders.
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.