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 Mozambique and from Bremen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1969 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 güiro 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 Junior Murvin 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 Gabor Szabo. All the underground hits.
All Black Moon tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Letta Mbulu record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Robert Hood record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
David Axelrod,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
David Bowie,
Grauzone,
Eurythmics,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
The Invisible,
Danielle Patucci,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Crispy Ambulance,
Chris & Cosey,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Franke,
Animal Collective,
Vladislav Delay,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
a-ha,
T.S.O.L.,
Al Stewart,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
the Soft Cell,
Cybotron,
DNA,
Tears for Fears,
The Gories,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Pet Shop Boys,
Soft Machine,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Gang Green,
Theoretical Girls,
Schoolly D,
Terry Callier,
Harpers Bizarre,
Mark Hollis,
Echospace,
8 Eyed Spy,
The Selecter,
R.M.O.,
Aural Exciters,
Jimmy McGriff,
Adolescents,
Bill Near,
K-Klass,
Wings,
The Motions,
Duran Duran,
Siglo XX,
The Busters,
Marcia Griffiths,
Marc Almond,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Urselle,
The Move,
Swans,
Bobby Womack,
Newcleus,
New Age Steppers,
Funkadelic,
Ossler, Ossler, Ossler, Ossler.
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.