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 Burkina and from Edmonton.
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 1964 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 spring reverb 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 Section 25 to the jazz 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 James White and The Blacks. All the underground hits.
All The Five Americans tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Cure 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Intrusion record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Marcia Griffiths,
The Associates,
Ponytail,
The Slackers,
Quadrant,
June Days,
Camouflage,
Funky Four + One,
Pussy Galore,
Minor Threat,
The Barracudas,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The Fall,
Joensuu 1685,
Charles Mingus,
Pierre Henry,
Mars,
Yusef Lateef,
Scrapy,
New Order,
Sexual Harrassment,
The Fortunes,
Erykah Badu,
June of 44,
Eden Ahbez,
The Litter,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Smiths,
Mandrill,
The Fugs,
Eurythmics,
Johnny Clarke,
Howard Jones,
Bronski Beat,
Alton Ellis,
Letta Mbulu,
Delon & Dalcan,
Mark Hollis,
The Standells,
Technova,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Byron Stingily,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Toasters,
Bush Tetras,
Carl Craig,
John Cale,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Black Flag,
Amon Düül,
Bootsy Collins,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Gregory Isaacs,
Kevin Saunderson,
Derrick Morgan,
Al Stewart,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Slits,
Terry Callier, Terry Callier, Terry Callier, Terry Callier.
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.