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 Vanuatu 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 1968 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Winnipeg.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the snare 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 Barry Ungar to the rock kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Liaisons Dangereuses. All the underground hits.
All Arcadia tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Patti Smith 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Judy Mowatt record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Khruangbin,
The Detroit Cobras,
Maurizio,
Mantronix,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Harpers Bizarre,
The Human League,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Traffic Nightmare,
Tubeway Army,
The Divine Comedy,
The Doors,
Darondo,
Quando Quango,
48th St. Collective,
The Pop Group,
Fela Kuti,
Trumans Water,
The Barracudas,
Porter Ricks,
Eden Ahbez,
Skriet,
Stiv Bators,
Simply Red,
Loose Ends,
David Axelrod,
Unrelated Segments,
Bad Manners,
Hoover,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Fall,
Animal Collective,
Kas Product,
Jacques Brel,
Sarah Menescal,
The Standells,
The Fugs,
Masters at Work,
Echospace,
UT,
Aural Exciters,
The American Breed,
Essential Logic,
Gang of Four,
Fluxion,
Bobby Womack,
Radiohead,
This Heat,
The Motions,
The Mighty Diamonds,
L. Decosne,
Jesper Dahlback,
Marc Almond,
Grey Daturas,
Buzzcocks,
Ornette Coleman,
Henry Cow,
Nirvana,
The New Christs,
Dual Sessions,
Kurtis Blow,
The Seeds, The Seeds, The Seeds, The Seeds.
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.