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 Rwanda and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1962 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 The Moleskins 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 Michelle Simonal. All the underground hits.
All Zapp tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Oppenheimer Analysis 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Index record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lebanon Hanover,
The Misunderstood,
Pussy Galore,
Althea and Donna,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Nation of Ulysses,
Jandek,
JFA,
Rekid,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Joe Finger,
Visage,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Model 500,
Bronski Beat,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Pere Ubu,
Fluxion,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Joe Smooth,
X-102,
The Grass Roots,
Tom Boy,
Con Funk Shun,
EPMD,
London Community Gospel Choir,
The Tremeloes,
D'Angelo,
Maurizio,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Unrelated Segments,
Brass Construction,
Joensuu 1685,
The Fugs,
Grey Daturas,
Nick Fraelich,
Sexual Harrassment,
The Victims,
The Last Poets,
Gang Green,
Wolf Eyes,
Aloha Tigers,
Amazonics,
Moebius,
Sixth Finger,
cv313,
Lindisfarne,
The Trojans,
Boredoms,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
New York Dolls,
Camouflage,
Sunsets and Hearts,
The Sound,
Smog,
Tim Buckley,
UT,
Technova,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Dawn Penn, Dawn Penn, Dawn Penn, Dawn Penn.
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.