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 Gabon and from Delhi.
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 1963 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Chocolate Watch Band to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Godley & Creme. All the underground hits.
All The Chocolate Watch Band tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gil Scott Heron record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Velvet Underground record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Second Layer,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Todd Rundgren,
Organ,
Cheater Slicks,
The Tremeloes,
Minor Threat,
The Trojans,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Monks,
Crime,
Stiv Bators,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Yazoo,
Oneida,
Make Up,
Harry Pussy,
MDC,
Harmonia,
Don Cherry,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Cluster,
The Moody Blues,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Bronski Beat,
Sugar Minott,
Eric B and Rakim,
UT,
Darondo,
Sun Ra,
Janne Schatter,
John Cale,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Joe Finger,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Jeff Lynne,
Eve St. Jones,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Busters,
Peter and Kerry,
Blancmange,
Tubeway Army,
Jandek,
Rekid,
Visage,
Blake Baxter,
Underground Resistance,
Kayak,
Warren Ellis,
The Smoke,
Kerrie Biddell,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Smog,
Average White Band,
Loose Ends,
Pharoah Sanders,
Subhumans,
Angry Samoans,
Barrington Levy,
Funky Four + One,
Fat Boys, Fat Boys, Fat Boys, Fat Boys.
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.