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 Guinea and from Calgary.
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 1963 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Arthur Verocai to the disco kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Television Personalities. All the underground hits.
All Amon Düül II tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 rhodes and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rhythm & Sound record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Byron Stingily,
Alice Coltrane,
Rod Modell,
Pere Ubu,
Slick Rick,
The Angels of Light,
Rhythm & Sound,
cv313,
Excepter,
Ornette Coleman,
Todd Terry,
Public Enemy,
Yellowson,
The Dirtbombs,
Banda Bassotti,
Average White Band,
Soft Machine,
Cecil Taylor,
Wally Richardson,
Robert Görl,
The Raincoats,
10cc,
Ten City,
Rakim,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Al Stewart,
Colin Newman,
Von Mondo,
Eve St. Jones,
Panda Bear,
The Busters,
Max Romeo,
Minutemen,
Malaria!,
Camberwell Now,
Pantytec,
Saccharine Trust,
Morten Harket,
MC5,
Crash Course in Science,
Terrestrial Tones,
Moebius,
The Offenders,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Kurtis Blow,
Scratch Acid,
Talk Talk,
Barry Ungar,
The Beau Brummels,
The Kinks,
The Doobie Brothers,
Blancmange,
CMW,
Michelle Simonal,
Monolake,
Albert Ayler,
The Saints,
Leonard Cohen,
Roxy Music,
Flipper,
The Star Department, The Star Department, The Star Department, The Star Department.
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.