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 Norway and from Tehran.
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 1963 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Newcleus to the rock 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 The Gap Band. All the underground hits.
All Funkadelic tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every China Crisis 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Juan Atkins record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Theoretical Girls,
Blossom Toes,
The Fortunes,
Jacques Brel,
Hardrive,
The Slackers,
Delta 5,
Alphaville,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Brick,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Harpers Bizarre,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Lalo Schifrin,
Robert Görl,
The Pop Group,
Adolescents,
Eden Ahbez,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Sound,
Glenn Branca,
Isaac Hayes,
Dual Sessions,
Terry Callier,
The Invisible,
Gong,
R.M.O.,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Ludus,
Johnny Clarke,
The Martian,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Essential Logic,
The Walker Brothers,
Main Source,
Gang Starr,
Aswad,
Nation of Ulysses,
Ten City,
Jeru the Damaja,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Mantronix,
Drive Like Jehu,
Scan 7,
the Swans,
Kayak,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Archie Shepp,
Davy DMX,
Prince Buster,
K-Klass,
The Divine Comedy,
The Shadows of Knight,
Arthur Verocai,
Gichy Dan,
Janne Schatter,
Urselle,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
The Selecter,
The Flesh Eaters,
Smog, Smog, Smog, Smog.
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.