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 Swaziland and from Columbus.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Spandau Ballet to the jazz 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 The J.B.'s. All the underground hits.
All Sly & The Family Stone tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Wolf Eyes record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Evens,
Pagans,
Arthur Verocai,
Drexciya,
Zapp,
The Velvet Underground,
The Cure,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
The Blues Magoos,
Pussy Galore,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Pere Ubu,
The Smoke,
Electric Prunes,
Radiopuhelimet,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Kaleidoscope,
Shoche,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
The Fortunes,
Archie Shepp,
The Sound,
Alison Limerick,
Avey Tare,
the Bar-Kays,
Brothers Johnson,
Black Flag,
Sandy B,
Scrapy,
Yusef Lateef,
Mission of Burma,
Joe Smooth,
Talk Talk,
Albert Ayler,
The Gladiators,
X-101,
Cal Tjader,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Stockholm Monsters,
Harpers Bizarre,
Lindisfarne,
Rites of Spring,
Barrington Levy,
Crispy Ambulance,
Animal Collective,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Shuggie Otis,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Gregory Isaacs,
Crispian St. Peters,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Jesper Dahlback,
Robert Görl,
Rosa Yemen,
Johnny Clarke,
Cymande,
Royal Trux,
Mark Hollis,
Schoolly D,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Sexual Harrassment, Sexual Harrassment, Sexual Harrassment, Sexual Harrassment.
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.