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 Spain and from Calgary.
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 1969 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 David Bowie 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 Aswad to the jazz 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 Radiohead. All the underground hits.
All Flipper tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Warsaw record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Alton Ellis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Popol Vuh,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Arthur Verocai,
the Germs,
Easy Going,
Qualms,
Eddi Front,
Shuggie Otis,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Eric Copeland,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
the Fania All-Stars,
L. Decosne,
China Crisis,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Con Funk Shun,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Camouflage,
Terry Callier,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Rufus Thomas,
The Selecter,
Fugazi,
Urselle,
Depeche Mode,
Joy Division,
Jandek,
The Dead C,
Das Ding,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Sound Behaviour,
Neu!,
Cybotron,
Johnny Clarke,
Silicon Teens,
Matthew Bourne,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Divine Comedy,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Hot Snakes,
Harmonia,
Dual Sessions,
Porter Ricks,
The Mummies,
Von Mondo,
The Blackbyrds,
Charles Mingus,
the Soft Cell,
Motorama,
The Young Rascals,
Minor Threat,
Saccharine Trust,
Kool Moe Dee,
Angry Samoans,
Leonard Cohen,
Cymande,
Accadde A, Accadde A, Accadde A, Accadde A.
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.