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 Germany and from Lille.
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 1963 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Beijing.
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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Dave Gahan to the funk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Schoolly D. All the underground hits.
All Robert Hood tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Mummies record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 a snare and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Wally Richardson,
World's Most,
Oblivians,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
The Alarm Clocks,
Janne Schatter,
E-Dancer,
John Lydon,
Kurtis Blow,
Pulsallama,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Drexciya,
Con Funk Shun,
Excepter,
Fad Gadget,
The Fall,
Althea and Donna,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Wake,
Parry Music,
Shuggie Otis,
Brand Nubian,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Simply Red,
The Music Machine,
MDC,
Average White Band,
Massinfluence,
Ituana,
Hasil Adkins,
Lou Reed,
Mars,
Johnny Osbourne,
Dead Boys,
Deadbeat,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Radiohead,
Icehouse,
a-ha,
Half Japanese,
Smog,
Sound Behaviour,
The Pop Group,
Erykah Badu,
Sun Ra,
The Cowsills,
Masters at Work,
The Dave Clark Five,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Brass Construction,
Schoolly D,
This Heat,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Godley & Creme,
Neil Young,
Chris Corsano,
The Sound,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Marshall Jefferson,
Lou Christie,
The Gories,
Organ, Organ, Organ, Organ.
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.