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 United Kingdom and from Beijing.
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 1960 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Philadelphia.
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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Human League to the disco kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Gladiators. All the underground hits.
All Soft Cell tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Doors record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 an organ and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Von Mondo record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Circle Jerks,
Sällskapet,
Schoolly D,
The Slits,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Eric Dolphy,
Hardrive,
Marine Girls,
B.T. Express,
Grey Daturas,
The Dead C,
Trumans Water,
Scientists,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Funkadelic,
The Gun Club,
Dark Day,
Mr. Review,
Deakin,
Lakeside,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
AZ,
Lightning Bolt,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Brick,
Slick Rick,
Sparks,
Chris & Cosey,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Laurel Aitken,
Fluxion,
Stockholm Monsters,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Bang On A Can,
Neu!,
Rekid,
Kas Product,
Slave,
the Human League,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Guru Guru,
The Saints,
June Days,
China Crisis,
Wolf Eyes,
Bobby Sherman,
Mandrill,
Crime,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Althea and Donna,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Young Rascals,
Camberwell Now,
Scott Walker,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Organ,
Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman.
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.