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 Nauru and from Paris.
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 1966 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Skaos to the rock 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 Minny Pops. All the underground hits.
All The Shadows of Knight tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Amon Düül record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Alton Ellis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Letta Mbulu,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
The Fortunes,
Outsiders,
Tom Boy,
Ronnie Foster,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Durutti Column,
Mary Jane Girls,
Massinfluence,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Audionom,
Scott Walker,
Tubeway Army,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Reagan Youth,
the Bar-Kays,
Rotary Connection,
Black Bananas,
Sarah Menescal,
The Monochrome Set,
Sex Pistols,
Gastr Del Sol,
The Skatalites,
Joe Smooth,
The Standells,
Scrapy,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
CMW,
Judy Mowatt,
Black Sheep,
Black Moon,
Ronan,
Basic Channel,
Peter and Kerry,
Banda Bassotti,
Roxy Music,
Henry Cow,
World's Most,
Marshall Jefferson,
Saccharine Trust,
Bill Near,
Bluetip,
Alice Coltrane,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Glambeats Corp.,
a-ha,
Sexual Harrassment,
Deadbeat,
Crooked Eye,
China Crisis,
the Normal,
Khruangbin,
Michelle Simonal,
H. Thieme,
Duran Duran,
Mr. Review,
Guru Guru,
The Fugs,
Babytalk,
Half Japanese,
FM Einheit,
Ossler, Ossler, Ossler, Ossler.
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.