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 Mauritius and from Spokane.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 Accra and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Electric Prunes to the disco kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Sun City Girls. All the underground hits.
All Bill Wells tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Cluster record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sight & Sound record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
B.T. Express,
Boogie Down Productions,
Ronnie Foster,
Traffic Nightmare,
Todd Rundgren,
CMW,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Eric Copeland,
Young Marble Giants,
the Sonics,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Pagans,
Aaron Thompson,
Black Sheep,
Barrington Levy,
The Shadows of Knight,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Cal Tjader,
Black Pus,
Arthur Verocai,
Robert Hood,
Lucky Dragons,
Harpers Bizarre,
U.S. Maple,
Arcadia,
Slave,
Eddi Front,
The Smoke,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The Five Americans,
Eve St. Jones,
Scion,
The Searchers,
Albert Ayler,
Patti Smith,
Reuben Wilson,
Ronan,
Aswad,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Peter and Kerry,
Wolf Eyes,
Isaac Hayes,
Symarip,
Animal Collective,
Mr. Review,
La Düsseldorf,
Althea and Donna,
Jacob Miller,
Groovy Waters,
Magma,
Bobby Womack,
Todd Terry,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Marvin Gaye,
Quando Quango,
Jeru the Damaja,
Joy Division,
Delon & Dalcan,
Mars,
The New Christs,
Angry Samoans,
Archie Shepp, Archie Shepp, Archie Shepp, Archie Shepp.
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.