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 Bhutan and from Lyon.
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 1964 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 Tom Verlaine 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 Johnny Osbourne to the punk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Fad Gadget. All the underground hits.
All Clear Light tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mo-Dettes record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Franke record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Black Moon,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Lee Hazlewood,
Hasil Adkins,
Aswad,
Jacques Brel,
Tears for Fears,
Basic Channel,
Tres Demented,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Swell Maps,
Adolescents,
The Grass Roots,
Vainqueur,
Pylon,
The Martian,
Minnie Riperton,
London Community Gospel Choir,
EPMD,
Nico,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The New Christs,
Crispy Ambulance,
Public Enemy,
Little Man,
Arthur Verocai,
Bronski Beat,
Piero Umiliani,
Terrestrial Tones,
Maurizio,
The Blues Magoos,
The Motions,
The Sonics,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Tim Buckley,
Swans,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Marc Almond,
Popol Vuh,
Schoolly D,
Johnny Clarke,
Spandau Ballet,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Duran Duran,
The Music Machine,
Dave Gahan,
The Associates,
Cheater Slicks,
Brothers Johnson,
Donny Hathaway,
Shuggie Otis,
The Wake,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
The Shadows of Knight,
Excepter,
Patti Smith,
Public Image Ltd.,
Smog,
The Velvet Underground,
Peter and Kerry,
Livin' Joy,
Yazoo, Yazoo, Yazoo, Yazoo.
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.