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 Germany and from Shanghai.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Byron Stingily to the grime 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 The Grass Roots. All the underground hits.
All Kas Product tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rhythim Is Rhythim record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 linndrum and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Men They Couldn't Hang record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Slackers,
Archie Shepp,
The Martian,
Pantaleimon,
Pere Ubu,
The Cowsills,
Symarip,
Cymande,
Fat Boys,
Con Funk Shun,
R.M.O.,
David Axelrod,
The Fortunes,
Lower 48,
Tropical Tobacco,
Donald Byrd,
Sixth Finger,
Dawn Penn,
Camberwell Now,
Scott Walker,
The Gun Club,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Albert Ayler,
Heaven 17,
Jacques Brel,
The Dave Clark Five,
Anakelly,
Beasts of Bourbon,
The Techniques,
Fad Gadget,
Radiopuhelimet,
kango's stein massive,
Arab on Radar,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
The Cure,
Soulsonic Force,
Gichy Dan,
Ludus,
Faraquet,
Pierre Henry,
Bronski Beat,
Mad Mike,
Shoche,
Eric Copeland,
Danielle Patucci,
Barry Ungar,
Suicide,
Maurizio,
Hasil Adkins,
the Soft Cell,
ABC,
Franke,
Dennis Brown,
Terrestrial Tones,
Y Pants,
Lou Christie,
Barclay James Harvest,
Kas Product,
The Red Krayola,
Groovy Waters,
Rapeman,
Ten City,
Sonny Sharrock,
Mission of Burma, Mission of Burma, Mission of Burma, Mission of Burma.
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.