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 Lesotho and from Copenhagen.
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 1965 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Juan Atkins to the rap kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Flipper. All the underground hits.
All The Index tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Underground Resistance 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Wasted Youth record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Sound,
Jeff Lynne,
Toni Rubio,
Albert Ayler,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Trumans Water,
The Blackbyrds,
Lightning Bolt,
Barclay James Harvest,
Faraquet,
UT,
Stiv Bators,
The Velvet Underground,
Carl Craig,
Robert Wyatt,
Nik Kershaw,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Skaos,
Rakim,
Bush Tetras,
Alice Coltrane,
Q and Not U,
The Star Department,
Ultravox,
Joe Smooth,
Television Personalities,
Erykah Badu,
Arcadia,
The Move,
Metal Thangz,
Fatback Band,
Slick Rick,
Swans,
The Trojans,
Don Cherry,
The Divine Comedy,
The Leaves,
Byron Stingily,
The Litter,
The Knickerbockers,
Gil Scott Heron,
Crime,
Index,
Althea and Donna,
Minor Threat,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
John Foxx,
Faust,
Jerry Gold Smith,
John Lydon,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The Slackers,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
MC5,
The Angels of Light,
The Standells,
Mantronix,
Pet Shop Boys,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Archie Shepp,
Goldenarms,
Warsaw,
Second Layer,
In Retrospect, In Retrospect, In Retrospect, In Retrospect.
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.