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 Mali and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 marimba 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 Symarip to the grime kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Roy Ayers. All the underground hits.
All Ossler tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Beau Brummels 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Goldenarms record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
A Flock of Seagulls,
Saccharine Trust,
Al Stewart,
Scrapy,
The New Christs,
Bootsy Collins,
Warren Ellis,
Fat Boys,
Animal Collective,
Ultimate Spinach,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Urselle,
Brass Construction,
Theoretical Girls,
Bizarre Inc.,
Scion,
Hoover,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Black Moon,
The Victims,
L. Decosne,
Grey Daturas,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Warsaw,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Amon Düül II,
Jeff Mills,
Danielle Patucci,
Eric Dolphy,
Blancmange,
Half Japanese,
Bill Near,
Hot Snakes,
K-Klass,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Carl Craig,
Jesper Dahlback,
Ornette Coleman,
Donald Byrd,
Fluxion,
The Shadows of Knight,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
the Slits,
KRS-One,
Icehouse,
Pole,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
The Leaves,
Funkadelic,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Patti Smith,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
The Music Machine,
Popol Vuh,
Gang of Four,
Michelle Simonal,
Traffic Nightmare,
Au Pairs,
The Monks,
The Young Rascals,
Arthur Verocai,
Mission of Burma,
Bootsy's Rubber Band, Bootsy's Rubber Band, Bootsy's Rubber Band, Bootsy's Rubber Band.
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.