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 Seychelles and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1987.
I was there at the first Nirvana show in Seattle.
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 1967 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 oboe 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 Oneida to the grime kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Warsaw. All the underground hits.
All Vladislav Delay tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Wolf Eyes 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 an oboe and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Groovy Waters record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Qualms,
Pet Shop Boys,
Bobby Byrd,
Carl Craig,
The Gladiators,
The Trojans,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
John Lydon,
Mission of Burma,
T.S.O.L.,
Jacques Brel,
Quadrant,
Simply Red,
Minor Threat,
Delta 5,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Durutti Column,
Magma,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Dorothy Ashby,
Cybotron,
Joe Finger,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Panda Bear,
Don Cherry,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Barrington Levy,
Freddie Wadling,
Supertramp,
Lalo Schifrin,
Idris Muhammad,
Roxy Music,
Terrestrial Tones,
Babytalk,
Suicide,
Todd Rundgren,
Prince Buster,
Lakeside,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Flesh Eaters,
Liliput,
Theoretical Girls,
The Busters,
Patti Smith,
Robert Görl,
Los Fastidios,
The Red Krayola,
The Fortunes,
Bronski Beat,
Basic Channel,
Interpol,
Rakim,
Lalann,
Black Moon,
Scott Walker,
A Certain Ratio,
Kerrie Biddell,
Matthew Bourne,
Letta Mbulu, Letta Mbulu, Letta Mbulu, Letta Mbulu.
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.