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 Rwanda and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 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 Gang Green to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Guru Guru. All the underground hits.
All Hoover tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Richard Hell and the Voidoids record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 spring reverb and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sam Rivers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ronnie Foster,
Alice Coltrane,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Guru Guru,
Crispian St. Peters,
Model 500,
New York Dolls,
The Electric Prunes,
Sällskapet,
Bobby Womack,
Rod Modell,
X-102,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Boogie Down Productions,
Kerri Chandler,
PIL,
The Slits,
Los Fastidios,
Bobby Sherman,
Fela Kuti,
Hot Snakes,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Sam Rivers,
Lyres,
Nation of Ulysses,
Minny Pops,
Ituana,
Country Teasers,
Pierre Henry,
Khruangbin,
Maleditus Sound,
The Angels of Light,
The Birthday Party,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Agitation Free,
Skarface,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Funkadelic,
Jerry's Kids,
Jacques Brel,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Funky Four + One,
Howard Jones,
Eric Dolphy,
Nils Olav,
Tubeway Army,
Make Up,
Duran Duran,
Derrick Morgan,
Rekid,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Divine Comedy,
Flipper,
Laurel Aitken,
Peter and Kerry,
Stetsasonic,
Soft Machine,
Vladislav Delay,
The Cramps,
D'Angelo,
Hoover,
Glenn Branca,
Intrusion,
L. Decosne, L. Decosne, L. Decosne, L. Decosne.
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.