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 El Salvador and from Spokane.
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 1960 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 synthesizer 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 Roger Hodgson 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 Eric B and Rakim. All the underground hits.
All Sad Lovers and Giants tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Happenings 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Richard Hell and the Voidoids record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Connie Case,
Charles Mingus,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Liliput,
Nation of Ulysses,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
the Bar-Kays,
Harry Pussy,
Eddi Front,
Loose Ends,
Mr. Review,
Little Man,
Livin' Joy,
Judy Mowatt,
David Axelrod,
Con Funk Shun,
Interpol,
Davy DMX,
Ash Ra Tempel,
The Names,
Nirvana,
Byron Stingily,
Flash Fearless,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The United States of America,
Jimmy McGriff,
The Fire Engines,
Massinfluence,
The Buckinghams,
Tubeway Army,
The Mojo Men,
Soulsonic Force,
DJ Style,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Suicide,
Slave,
Schoolly D,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
the Human League,
Henry Cow,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Detroit Cobras,
Jandek,
Scrapy,
Aswad,
Surgeon,
The Seeds,
The Raincoats,
A Flock of Seagulls,
H. Thieme,
Electric Prunes,
Wings,
Q and Not U,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
The Remains,
Excepter,
John Coltrane,
Michelle Simonal,
The Fugs,
The Wake, The Wake, The Wake, The Wake.
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.