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 Guatemala and from Milan.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Accra.
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 oboe 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 Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch to the grunge kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade. All the underground hits.
All James White and The Blacks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Agitation Free record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Judy Mowatt,
Glenn Branca,
Crime,
Neu!,
Johnny Clarke,
Chrome,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Angry Samoans,
Alton Ellis,
Black Bananas,
The Zeros,
The Doobie Brothers,
Index,
Boz Scaggs,
AZ,
Leonard Cohen,
Hasil Adkins,
Ituana,
Cymande,
Skriet,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Monks,
Bizarre Inc.,
Nik Kershaw,
Sight & Sound,
Piero Umiliani,
Tropical Tobacco,
Althea and Donna,
Ten City,
Alice Coltrane,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Kas Product,
The Searchers,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Radiohead,
Gregory Isaacs,
Morten Harket,
Underground Resistance,
Sex Pistols,
The Divine Comedy,
Pussy Galore,
Mr. Review,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Ken Boothe,
U.S. Maple,
L. Decosne,
The Golliwogs,
Fat Boys,
The Raincoats,
Theoretical Girls,
the Slits,
Yaz,
June of 44,
Eric Dolphy,
Dead Boys,
Camberwell Now,
Organ,
Kerri Chandler,
New Order, New Order, New Order, New Order.
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.