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 Kuwait and from Sao Paulo.
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 1966 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 Lou Reed 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 Richard Hell and the Voidoids to the rap 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 Gang of Four. All the underground hits.
All Bad Manners tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Dirtbombs record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Basic Channel record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Buckinghams,
Mo-Dettes,
Yaz,
Johnny Osbourne,
Con Funk Shun,
The Shadows of Knight,
Blancmange,
Ronan,
Hardrive,
Swell Maps,
Morten Harket,
Clear Light,
Jacques Brel,
Nick Fraelich,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Idris Muhammad,
PIL,
The Smiths,
Bluetip,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Procol Harum,
Pylon,
The Doobie Brothers,
Jimmy McGriff,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Massinfluence,
Angry Samoans,
Pere Ubu,
Aural Exciters,
The Remains,
Ituana,
The Trojans,
Kurtis Blow,
Monolake,
Ohio Players,
Prince Buster,
Eli Mardock,
Sex Pistols,
The Young Rascals,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Los Fastidios,
Echospace,
The Stooges,
Cheater Slicks,
Scratch Acid,
A Certain Ratio,
Pole,
The Velvet Underground,
Lightning Bolt,
Excepter,
Fugazi,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The Beau Brummels,
Agent Orange,
Throbbing Gristle,
The Pop Group,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Bobby Womack,
Nirvana,
Rekid,
Gang Green,
David Axelrod, David Axelrod, David Axelrod, David Axelrod.
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.