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 Guinea-Bissau and from Johannesburg.
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 1969 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Bauhaus to the crunk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Aswad. All the underground hits.
All Panda Bear tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Visage record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 synthesizer and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Man Eating Sloth record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Moody Blues,
Joy Division,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Nation of Ulysses,
Little Man,
Rhythm & Sound,
Kayak,
Bobby Sherman,
Davy DMX,
the Association,
Jeff Mills,
China Crisis,
L. Decosne,
Ornette Coleman,
LL Cool J,
Kas Product,
New York Dolls,
The Electric Prunes,
the Human League,
Blossom Toes,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Lakeside,
Matthew Bourne,
Lou Reed,
Eric Dolphy,
Ohio Players,
Marcia Griffiths,
Darondo,
The Misunderstood,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Fall,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Harmonia,
R.M.O.,
Derrick May,
ABBA,
Arthur Verocai,
Junior Murvin,
ABC,
Gichy Dan,
Stetsasonic,
Depeche Mode,
Das Ding,
Blancmange,
Chris & Cosey,
Scientists,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Terry Callier,
Smog,
The Cure,
Lower 48,
The Doobie Brothers,
Kerrie Biddell,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Zapp,
Toni Rubio,
Max Romeo,
Young Marble Giants,
Jacob Miller,
Man Parrish,
The Index,
Wally Richardson,
The Grass Roots, The Grass Roots, The Grass Roots, The Grass Roots.
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.