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 Papua New Guinea and from Calgary.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Edmonton and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 rhodes 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 Sam Rivers to the rock 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 Qualms. All the underground hits.
All Gang Green tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Heaven 17 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Von Mondo record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Moody Blues,
Main Source,
Sun Ra,
Sarah Menescal,
Rapeman,
Eric Copeland,
Surgeon,
Laurel Aitken,
Basic Channel,
Siglo XX,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Bobby Byrd,
Bob Dylan,
Colin Newman,
Pagans,
Wasted Youth,
Sparks,
Dual Sessions,
Crime,
Deepchord,
Sandy B,
Derrick May,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Maurizio,
Oneida,
The Five Americans,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Qualms,
Sly & The Family Stone,
the Normal,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Quantec,
The Gories,
Todd Terry,
Lee Hazlewood,
Y Pants,
Boz Scaggs,
Lakeside,
Audionom,
Ultra Naté,
Don Cherry,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Sonics,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Aloha Tigers,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Hot Snakes,
Flamin' Groovies,
Oblivians,
Interpol,
New Age Steppers,
Danielle Patucci,
Sight & Sound,
Smog,
The Associates,
Alison Limerick,
The Cramps,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Joe Smooth,
Echospace,
Wolf Eyes,
Magazine, Magazine, Magazine, Magazine.
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.