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 Angola and from Seoul.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1960 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Halifax 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 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 The Offenders to the techno kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Marvin Gaye. All the underground hits.
All Donald Byrd tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Manfred Mann's Earth Band 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a James White and The Blacks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Lyres,
Fort Wilson Riot,
The Fire Engines,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Camouflage,
Hashim,
China Crisis,
Lou Reed,
Johnny Osbourne,
Derrick Morgan,
Bronski Beat,
Bobby Sherman,
Pole,
Ohio Players,
Symarip,
Yazoo,
Arthur Verocai,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Lou Christie,
Wolf Eyes,
Japan,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Eden Ahbez,
Pulsallama,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Johnny Clarke,
Qualms,
Rufus Thomas,
Trumans Water,
Agitation Free,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Maurizio,
Pylon,
Fad Gadget,
Fela Kuti,
Neil Young,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
the Association,
Radiopuhelimet,
Crime,
Alice Coltrane,
The Grass Roots,
Janne Schatter,
Saccharine Trust,
Radio Birdman,
the Human League,
Cal Tjader,
The Gap Band,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Electric Prunes,
Cluster,
Ten City,
Graham Central Station,
Public Enemy,
Thee Headcoats,
The Count Five,
Wally Richardson,
Mandrill, Mandrill, Mandrill, Mandrill.
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.