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 Iceland and from Sao Paulo.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Godley & Creme to the crunk 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 Crispy Ambulance. All the underground hits.
All Charles Mingus tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Richard Hell and the Voidoids record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 mellotron and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a John Foxx record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Sonics,
FM Einheit,
Fluxion,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Fatback Band,
Sam Rivers,
Jimmy McGriff,
Ossler,
The Selecter,
Royal Trux,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Shoche,
Junior Murvin,
The Moody Blues,
Basic Channel,
Theoretical Girls,
Terrestrial Tones,
Stiv Bators,
The Residents,
Magazine,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Flipper,
Lightning Bolt,
Soft Machine,
R.M.O.,
Patti Smith,
Archie Shepp,
Barrington Levy,
X-101,
Ronan,
Subhumans,
Ronnie Foster,
Underground Resistance,
Ornette Coleman,
Reuben Wilson,
Lalo Schifrin,
Scientists,
Youth Brigade,
Harry Pussy,
Sugar Minott,
Second Layer,
June Days,
Thee Headcoats,
The Detroit Cobras,
Kerrie Biddell,
Jeff Mills,
Cheater Slicks,
Crispy Ambulance,
Faraquet,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Rufus Thomas,
Monolake,
Josef K,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Sister Nancy,
The Martian,
Shuggie Otis,
The Fall,
Tom Boy,
Stereo Dub,
Danielle Patucci,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Swans,
Delon & Dalcan, Delon & Dalcan, Delon & Dalcan, Delon & Dalcan.
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.