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 Equatorial Guinea and from Copenhagen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1960 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 Nile Rodgers 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 kango's stein massive to the punk 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 Tim Buckley. All the underground hits.
All Rakim tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 mellotron and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Velvet Underground record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Johnny Clarke,
The Dirtbombs,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Flesh Eaters,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Slackers,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
La Düsseldorf,
Trumans Water,
The Index,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Dead Boys,
Marvin Gaye,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
MDC,
AZ,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Lalo Schifrin,
Curtis Mayfield,
Underground Resistance,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Smog,
Bill Near,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Lower 48,
Main Source,
Depeche Mode,
Tommy Roe,
The Searchers,
Rekid,
Joy Division,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Country Teasers,
T. Rex,
Aaron Thompson,
B.T. Express,
Black Moon,
Todd Terry,
Schoolly D,
Von Mondo,
Camouflage,
Eve St. Jones,
Cybotron,
The Mojo Men,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Ludus,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Moebius,
Swell Maps,
The Modern Lovers,
Ronan,
Peter and Kerry,
Sun City Girls,
Harpers Bizarre,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Cheater Slicks,
Howard Jones,
The Sisters of Mercy,
John Coltrane, John Coltrane, John Coltrane, John Coltrane.
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.