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 Lesotho and from Cairo.
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 1964 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Reagan Youth to the grime 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 Crispian St. Peters. All the underground hits.
All Swans tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Charles Mingus 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Trojans record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Davy DMX,
Colin Newman,
Oblivians,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
the Soft Cell,
The Remains,
Maleditus Sound,
FM Einheit,
Index,
Babytalk,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Cowsills,
The Alarm Clocks,
Rosa Yemen,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Zeros,
The Star Department,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Max Romeo,
Essential Logic,
Zero Boys,
PIL,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Fortunes,
Avey Tare,
Eric Copeland,
John Holt,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Joyce Sims,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
John Cale,
Aloha Tigers,
Susan Cadogan,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
The Smoke,
Kerrie Biddell,
Patti Smith,
A Certain Ratio,
the Germs,
Funkadelic,
This Heat,
Ronan,
Country Teasers,
Roy Ayers,
Laurel Aitken,
Rites of Spring,
Mary Jane Girls,
E-Dancer,
James White and The Blacks,
The Real Kids,
Lucky Dragons,
Neil Young,
John Foxx,
Boogie Down Productions,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Boredoms,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Drexciya,
Bluetip,
The Searchers,
Crime, Crime, Crime, Crime.
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.