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 Guyana and from Lagos.
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 1969 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 guitar 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 Mad Mike to the grime kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Red Krayola. All the underground hits.
All Todd Rundgren tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rhythm & Sound record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 an arpeggiator and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Electric Prunes record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fifty Foot Hose,
Marine Girls,
the Association,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Grey Daturas,
Soulsonic Force,
X-101,
The Residents,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Althea and Donna,
Joe Smooth,
The Slits,
Laurel Aitken,
Nirvana,
Joy Division,
Erasure,
The American Breed,
Magma,
Lungfish,
Don Cherry,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Nico,
Nils Olav,
Popol Vuh,
Electric Prunes,
Sun Ra,
Whodini,
Jacques Brel,
The Golliwogs,
La Düsseldorf,
Rapeman,
Rhythm & Sound,
Lou Reed,
KRS-One,
Main Source,
Sexual Harrassment,
Lalo Schifrin,
Carl Craig,
Rites of Spring,
Japan,
Soul II Soul,
Agitation Free,
Anakelly,
Half Japanese,
Iggy Pop,
8 Eyed Spy,
Isaac Hayes,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Pantaleimon,
The Sound,
Altered Images,
Dark Day,
Can,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Wasted Youth,
Theoretical Girls,
Ultimate Spinach,
Black Flag,
The Gladiators,
The Remains,
The Gories,
Motorama, Motorama, Motorama, Motorama.
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.