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 Bhutan and from Manchester.
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 1969 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 spring reverb 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 Mission of Burma to the funk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Whodini. All the underground hits.
All Tommy Roe tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Donny Hathaway 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a OOIOO record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bobby Byrd,
Alice Coltrane,
Rakim,
Thompson Twins,
Tropical Tobacco,
Banda Bassotti,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Marvin Gaye,
Can,
Camouflage,
The Searchers,
The Angels of Light,
Faraquet,
Ultravox,
Bush Tetras,
Ornette Coleman,
Brass Construction,
Ralphi Rosario,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Eve St. Jones,
Nirvana,
The Remains,
Whodini,
China Crisis,
Swell Maps,
Bluetip,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Bronski Beat,
David Bowie,
Bob Dylan,
Bizarre Inc.,
Throbbing Gristle,
Tears for Fears,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
This Heat,
Malaria!,
The Black Dice,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Idris Muhammad,
Gabor Szabo,
Television Personalities,
The Dead C,
Animal Collective,
Man Eating Sloth,
Model 500,
Ice-T,
Warren Ellis,
Laurel Aitken,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Cybotron,
Lungfish,
Adolescents,
The Trojans,
Sound Behaviour,
The Saints,
Alton Ellis,
Man Parrish,
Ronan,
Young Marble Giants,
Tres Demented,
Avey Tare, Avey Tare, Avey Tare, Avey Tare.
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.