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 Bangladesh and from New York.
But I was there.
I was there in 2001.
I was there at the first Tiga show in Montreal.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City 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 marimba 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 Bill Near 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 Chris Corsano. All the underground hits.
All Eurythmics tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sight & Sound record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Skatalites record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cluster,
These Immortal Souls,
Pere Ubu,
Au Pairs,
Technova,
Bobby Womack,
DJ Sneak,
Aloha Tigers,
Rod Modell,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Bill Near,
Fela Kuti,
Thee Headcoats,
Terrestrial Tones,
Max Romeo,
Icehouse,
Warren Ellis,
Johnny Osbourne,
Arcadia,
Mad Mike,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Essential Logic,
David Bowie,
X-Ray Spex,
Gong,
Vladislav Delay,
Hasil Adkins,
Fluxion,
Mission of Burma,
Suicide,
Maleditus Sound,
10cc,
Yusef Lateef,
Andrew Hill,
Panda Bear,
Patti Smith,
Peter & Gordon,
The New Christs,
The Five Americans,
Ornette Coleman,
Quadrant,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Skriet,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Los Fastidios,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Minny Pops,
ABC,
Roy Ayers,
Ultravox,
The Last Poets,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Radiohead,
Echospace,
Toni Rubio,
Henry Cow,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Trojans,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Joe Finger,
Can,
The Fortunes,
Agent Orange, Agent Orange, Agent Orange, Agent Orange.
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.