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 Egypt and from Columbus.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Chic show in New York.
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 1960 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 Harmonia to the funk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 It's A Beautiful Day. All the underground hits.
All Cluster tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Althea and Donna record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 clarinet and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Leaves record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Boredoms,
The Human League,
Robert Wyatt,
JFA,
Trumans Water,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Eric Copeland,
Tommy Roe,
The Blackbyrds,
The Velvet Underground,
Sun Ra,
Thompson Twins,
The Searchers,
Tres Demented,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Avey Tare,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
The Zeros,
EPMD,
It's A Beautiful Day,
The Litter,
Whodini,
Albert Ayler,
Cheater Slicks,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Index,
Nation of Ulysses,
Johnny Clarke,
This Heat,
Moby Grape,
Visage,
Sam Rivers,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Basic Channel,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Rhythm & Sound,
Chris & Cosey,
Franke,
The Move,
Skriet,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Wire,
Black Moon,
The Skatalites,
Symarip,
Neil Young,
Rotary Connection,
Bronski Beat,
Boz Scaggs,
Dorothy Ashby,
L. Decosne,
X-102,
Gong,
Marcia Griffiths,
Sister Nancy,
Aaron Thompson,
Eve St. Jones,
Fela Kuti,
The Pop Group,
Pantaleimon,
Urselle, Urselle, Urselle, Urselle.
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.