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 Maldives and from Lyon.
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 New York and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1976 at the first Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 John Holt to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Arab on Radar. All the underground hits.
All Rosa Yemen tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lou Christie record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bobby Sherman,
Monolake,
John Foxx,
Alice Coltrane,
Bad Manners,
Wally Richardson,
Aural Exciters,
cv313,
Lindisfarne,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The Mojo Men,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
This Heat,
Ituana,
The J.B.'s,
Ten City,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Radiohead,
Excepter,
Pantytec,
Dawn Penn,
Joensuu 1685,
Sight & Sound,
Joe Smooth,
Althea and Donna,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
ABBA,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
The Invisible,
The Walker Brothers,
Crime,
Drive Like Jehu,
Roger Hodgson,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Gang of Four,
Harpers Bizarre,
June Days,
Fugazi,
Metal Thangz,
Harry Pussy,
Scientists,
The Blackbyrds,
Trumans Water,
In Retrospect,
Goldenarms,
Flash Fearless,
Cecil Taylor,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
B.T. Express,
Theoretical Girls,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Dirtbombs,
Pere Ubu,
Faust,
Mandrill,
Gil Scott Heron,
Eli Mardock,
Cybotron,
Hoover,
The Buckinghams,
Eric Dolphy, Eric Dolphy, Eric Dolphy, Eric Dolphy.
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.