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 Guinea-Bissau and from Lyon.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1963 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Suburban Knight to the electroclash kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 The Peanut Butter Conspiracy. All the underground hits.
All cv313 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nils Olav record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 an organ and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The New Christs record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Monks,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Cluster,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
James White and The Blacks,
Grey Daturas,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Inner City,
Wings,
Hasil Adkins,
Franke,
Unrelated Segments,
Index,
Charles Mingus,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Moebius,
The Residents,
the Human League,
the Normal,
Curtis Mayfield,
Visage,
Grauzone,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Fluxion,
UT,
Buzzcocks,
The Blackbyrds,
Organ,
Jesper Dahlback,
the Slits,
Von Mondo,
Black Pus,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Scion,
Bob Dylan,
Iggy Pop,
Swell Maps,
Leonard Cohen,
Eric B and Rakim,
Y Pants,
Mary Jane Girls,
The Seeds,
Michelle Simonal,
Oneida,
The Tremeloes,
John Foxx,
Loose Ends,
Marshall Jefferson,
The Offenders,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Jacob Miller,
The Neon Judgement,
Nation of Ulysses,
London Community Gospel Choir,
New York Dolls,
The Last Poets,
Malaria!,
Fatback Band,
Marvin Gaye,
Aswad,
Al Stewart, Al Stewart, Al Stewart, Al Stewart.
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.