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 Madagascar and from Delhi.
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 1967 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Neil Young to the grunge kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Eden Ahbez. All the underground hits.
All Leonard Cohen tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Doors record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Flipper record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lou Reed,
The Monochrome Set,
the Human League,
Simply Red,
OOIOO,
Boogie Down Productions,
Don Cherry,
U.S. Maple,
Boz Scaggs,
Kas Product,
The Martian,
The Slackers,
The Buckinghams,
Godley & Creme,
Deepchord,
Kurtis Blow,
Sound Behaviour,
Easy Going,
The Trojans,
Supertramp,
Rotary Connection,
Toni Rubio,
Kerri Chandler,
Curtis Mayfield,
Yaz,
Pantytec,
Saccharine Trust,
LL Cool J,
Q65,
Little Man,
Gang Green,
Popol Vuh,
Gichy Dan,
Charles Mingus,
Camberwell Now,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Parry Music,
The Neon Judgement,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Smog,
The Fuzztones,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Theoretical Girls,
The Stooges,
The Wake,
Cecil Taylor,
Alice Coltrane,
Main Source,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Monks,
Bobby Byrd,
Funkadelic,
The Gories,
The Standells,
Bauhaus,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
The United States of America,
Scan 7,
Bill Near,
Maleditus Sound,
Symarip, Symarip, Symarip, Symarip.
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.