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 Palau and from Sao Paulo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Seoul.
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 organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Arab on Radar to the punk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Suicide. All the underground hits.
All Iggy Pop tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Leonard Cohen record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Desert Stars record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Unwound,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
U.S. Maple,
Joy Division,
Unrelated Segments,
Agitation Free,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Monks,
Kerri Chandler,
kango's stein massive,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Fortunes,
the Human League,
Sällskapet,
Ornette Coleman,
The Happenings,
Ralphi Rosario,
Motorama,
The Smiths,
The J.B.'s,
F. McDonald,
Ituana,
Maurizio,
Delta 5,
Talk Talk,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Goldenarms,
Clear Light,
Fela Kuti,
Leonard Cohen,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Charles Mingus,
The Human League,
H. Thieme,
Freddie Wadling,
Half Japanese,
Gang Gang Dance,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Peter and Kerry,
Robert Görl,
The Vogues,
Radio Birdman,
the Swans,
the Normal,
Silicon Teens,
Marvin Gaye,
Derrick Morgan,
Bill Near,
Albert Ayler,
Jerry's Kids,
Hoover,
The Associates,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Slits,
Suburban Knight,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Lightning Bolt,
X-102,
Wasted Youth,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Cure, The Cure, The Cure, The Cure.
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.