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 Mauritius and from Mumbai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 A Flock of Seagulls 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 Piero Umiliani. All the underground hits.
All Pierre Henry tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every One Last Wish record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Drive Like Jehu record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Joe Finger,
The Move,
Bobby Womack,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Byron Stingily,
the Bar-Kays,
Ludus,
Faraquet,
Alice Coltrane,
Ohio Players,
Frankie Knuckles,
The Fugs,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Ossler,
Radiohead,
Dave Gahan,
Rakim,
Ken Boothe,
Harry Pussy,
The Monks,
Unrelated Segments,
Aural Exciters,
Tubeway Army,
Rotary Connection,
Camouflage,
The Fuzztones,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Roger Hodgson,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Radio Birdman,
Stockholm Monsters,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
The Standells,
The Cowsills,
MC5,
Groovy Waters,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Gang Starr,
The Saints,
Barbara Tucker,
Brand Nubian,
The Mummies,
Essential Logic,
Mission of Burma,
Flamin' Groovies,
Altered Images,
Chris & Cosey,
John Cale,
Lee Hazlewood,
Saccharine Trust,
Scratch Acid,
Mo-Dettes,
Soul II Soul,
Dawn Penn,
Rites of Spring,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Kool Moe Dee,
Ten City,
Nils Olav,
Bronski Beat,
Roy Ayers, Roy Ayers, Roy Ayers, Roy Ayers.
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.