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 Serbia 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 1964 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 synthesizer 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 Porter Ricks to the punk 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 8 Eyed Spy. All the underground hits.
All Gong tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Morten Harket record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Mojo Men record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Marvin Gaye,
Faraquet,
Black Bananas,
Jawbox,
Avey Tare,
Swell Maps,
The Fire Engines,
Absolute Body Control,
The Moleskins,
Panda Bear,
The Doobie Brothers,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Idris Muhammad,
Heaven 17,
B.T. Express,
Average White Band,
Judy Mowatt,
Shuggie Otis,
Albert Ayler,
Maleditus Sound,
Moebius,
Quando Quango,
New Age Steppers,
John Coltrane,
The Seeds,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Barracudas,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Darondo,
Crooked Eye,
Gong,
Ralphi Rosario,
Matthew Bourne,
Pagans,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Star Department,
Rapeman,
The Cramps,
Jesper Dahlback,
Gastr Del Sol,
Stockholm Monsters,
ABBA,
Rufus Thomas,
Joe Smooth,
Warren Ellis,
Boogie Down Productions,
CMW,
The Velvet Underground,
Make Up,
One Last Wish,
Popol Vuh,
Minny Pops,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Rosa Yemen,
Arcadia,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Ronan,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Cal Tjader,
The Fugs,
The Dead C,
8 Eyed Spy, 8 Eyed Spy, 8 Eyed Spy, 8 Eyed Spy.
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.