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 South Sudan and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City 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 güiro 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 DNA to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Lizzy Mercier Descloux. All the underground hits.
All Goldenarms tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Chrome record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Amazonics record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
X-Ray Spex,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Bush Tetras,
Andrew Hill,
The Walker Brothers,
John Coltrane,
The Mojo Men,
Sparks,
The Count Five,
Marcia Griffiths,
Yazoo,
the Fania All-Stars,
Barclay James Harvest,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Grass Roots,
Toni Rubio,
Agent Orange,
Howard Jones,
Arab on Radar,
The Golliwogs,
The Doors,
Cecil Taylor,
JFA,
Iggy Pop,
New Age Steppers,
Byron Stingily,
Minutemen,
The Young Rascals,
The Residents,
Ronnie Foster,
Ultimate Spinach,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Curtis Mayfield,
Wire,
The Blues Magoos,
The Leaves,
The Gladiators,
the Association,
Moebius,
The Selecter,
Derrick May,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Subhumans,
Hashim,
Ice-T,
Dark Day,
Marvin Gaye,
The Litter,
Albert Ayler,
Dawn Penn,
Ultra Naté,
Das Ding,
Royal Trux,
Aloha Tigers,
A Certain Ratio,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
OOIOO,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Lebanon Hanover,
Gil Scott Heron, Gil Scott Heron, Gil Scott Heron, Gil Scott Heron.
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.